Untitled Mystery
by Anubis Enfield
Summary: "I study the worst of people and by doing so, I learn about all sorts of things." "But they're criminals! It's not the same as judging the world's greatest detective!" "What kind of detective vows to take down a murderer when technically he himself is one! He's no better than Kira!"
1. Chapter 1

**Got bored in my creative writing class, but liked one of the writing prompts.**

* * *

The Chief stared in blatant shock at the dirtied mess that was an orange suited criminal, who the men downstairs had apprehended and brought up to ask the Chief what to do.

"He claims to work here, sir. Says he's a criminal psychologist or something. We're… not exactly sure what to do with him, so we brought him to you."

The man in the jumpsuit rolled his eyes. "I already told you who I was. I would show you my badge, but I left that back at the prison with my other stuff. I was in a hurry if you didn't notice."

The two officers glared at the man and the Chief raised a brow, having recognized the voice.

"Sanders?"

The person nodded with a smile. "That's me, Chief. Reporting for duty, I suppose."

"Let her go." Chief told the two officers.

"Sir?" They questioned, confused as to why the Chief would allow them to let a prisoner go.

"It's an order. Release her."

They did and headed back down the stairs to continue their work. Rubbing her wrists a bit, Andy reached up and pulled the black wig from her head and unpinned her hair, letting it loose around her shoulders.

"God, that's better."

"What, ah, what are you doing here, Sanders? I was calling in to check up on you just now. You weren't supposed to return until next week."

She raised a brow. "You trying to get rid of me Chief?"

"No! No. It's just—"

She chuckled. "Calm down. I was just kidding. Anyway, I returned early because I had my report."

Reaching into her jumpsuit, she pulled out a manila envelope and handed it over to him with a grin. He took it, confused.

"I thought you've been sending me reports."

"Oh, I have. It's just those weren't about Takeshi. He was the reason I went there in the first place, remember?"

He nodded, remembering back to when he had given her the job to find out Takeshi Sakamoto's motive behind the killing of his daughter-in-law. She was _supposed_ to just meet him and interrogate him, but she had returned the same day and asked if she could go under cover at the prison to find out why, since the man did not want to cooperate at the time. He was concerned for her at first, but she managed to reassure him and he granted her permission and since then, he hasn't seen her. The only way he even knew about what was going on there, was when he received handwritten letters from one of the officers who worked at the prison.

She had apparently been staying up late to give him details as to how her progress was going. Every day he had received a letter and soon enough, he was anticipating reading the next one. He had never enjoyed reading a report so much in his years as being a police officer, and now that she was here, he could personally see the wears that prison had taken on her.

Dark bags lined her eyes and she was a bit paler than her usual peach tone. She had a small scar on her right cheek from, he remembered, her first encounter with the head honcho of the prison. The other thing he noticed was the ways her eyes shifted about, examining everything around her and searching for a possible threat. She had done that before too, but he found it more pronounced now which caused him to sigh.

"Thank you, Sanders. Now go ahead and head home to get some rest."

"Actually, sir, I would like to keep working if I could. I heard something interesting while I was there and I wanted to look into it."

He raised a brow. _She had just returned from being in a prison cell for over a week and she just wants to look into more?_ "I admire your eagerness, but you should really get some rest, Sanders. There are other people here, just ask them to look into it for you."

She frowned. "But sir, I actually think they already know about it. I'm probably the only one who has no clue since I've been in the prison the past week."

"What is it you heard?"

"About Kira, sir. A good number of the people there are worried and I wanted to see if I could figure something out for them."

He nodded slowly, knowing that he probably wouldn't be able to convince Andy to head home anytime soon.

"Alright. I'll send over what I have so far. Just… try not to stay too late. I can't have my officers falling asleep on the job."

Andy nodded and saluted him. "Yes, sir!" Turning away, he heard her mutter to herself, "I should probably have Raye bring me some clothes. I don't want to get arrested again."

The Chief chuckled and turned towards his office to send her the paperwork just as he remembered something.

"Sanders!" She popped her head up from behind her computer. "Turn the TV on. Channel seven!"

She nodded and rushed to do as he asked, just in time too. The screen fizzled out and a man in a suit showed up on the screen.

" _We interrupt your programming to bring you an important message from the ICPO. This is being broadcast from all over the world. Japanese voiceover is provided by translator Yoshio Anderson_."

" _My name is Lind L. Taylor, widely known as 'L'_."

The Chief saw Andy raise a brow and he silently questioned to himself. _I wonder if she even knows who L is._ Chatter in the room grew as people in the office began to question L, and it seemed Andy wasn't even paying any more attention to the broadcast as she typed away at her computer. Ignoring them all, Chief Yagami stared at the screen intensely. _Alright, L. We've done everything you've asked of us. You just fulfill your promise that you made to us at the ICPO._

"Does this mean the showdown he was talking about already started?" Matsuda asked from next to him. "What the heck is he planning?"

"Be patient, Matsuda-kun. I don't know who this 'L' guy is, but let's just wait and see what he does, shall we?"

Andy gave them a wicked grin and rested her head on her intertwined hands. _She almost looks… amused. Could she be…_ His thoughts were cut off as the broadcast continued.

" _To the perpetrator of these murders: you have committed the most abominable act in history. I will personally catch the one behind it… this 'Kira', at any cost_."

Andy gave a short chuckle, but showed no other reactions.

" _Kira, I think I have a pretty good idea of what you're trying to do and why you're doing it… but what you're doing… is evil!_ "

Andy let out a sigh and the Chief glared at her lack of respect while Matsuda raised a questioning eyebrow.

"He's challenging him."

"What?" Matsuda questioned.

Andy dragged a hand down her face before typing something down on her computer.

"So blatantly calling a known mass murderer _evil_? It's like asking to be killed. Especially once with such a twisted sense of justice. L probably knows this and is either not that guy on the screen, or is extremely stupid and ready to die. Either way though, it won't change much. Kira will still be as confident as ever and, if anything, will only challenge him in return."

"How do you know all of this?" Chief asked. "You just told me that you don't know who L is, and that the most you've heard about Kira is a rumor floating around the prison you were at. How can you be so certain about this?"

"I've been doing this kind of thing for a long time, Chief. I study the worst of people and by doing so, I learn about all sorts of things."

"But they're criminals! It's not the same as judging the world's greatest detective!"

Andy shook her head, looking tired. "They are people too. They were not born criminals and, if I had to describe them, I would say that they are the embodiment of the shadows that everyday people try to hide. Everyone hold darkness inside them. Criminals were just those who were pushed to let it loose."

She turned her attention back to the screen just as Lind L. Taylor clutched his chest and had a heart attack, before two men came in and removed him from the scene.

" **Unbelievable**. **"** Both the voice from the TV and Andy stated.

" _I did this on the off-chance that you would kill 'me'. So, Kira, you can kill people without even being nearby. So it's true after all. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I would never have believed it, but this was the only way you could have killed them, wasn't it_?"

"Smart." Andy hummed, her right leg bouncing up and down quickly.

" _Kira, listen to me. The person you killed was actually a prisoner sentenced to be executed at this time today. Not me. He was a criminal imprisoned without any media attention, so naturally even you didn't know he existed_."

The bouncing of her leg stopped and a frown marred her features. She clicked her tongue and got up, allowing her chair to roll out from under her as she started to walk away, obviously upset about something.

"Andy?" Matsuda hesitantly called out.

She just waved lackadaisically. "Just getting some tea. I'll be back." She said, flinching when the voice on the TV grew louder.

" _But I, L, am real! So why don't you kill me?! Come one! Do it! Come one! Kill me! What's wrong? Can't do it? Seems like you can't kill me after all. So there are people you can't kill. Thanks for the hint. Let me tell you something in return. I said this was a worldwide live broadcast, but it's really only being shown in the Kanto area of Japan. I was planning on doing this in other prefectures, but now that's unnecessary. I now know that you're in the Kanto area. The police might have missed this, but I know your first victim was a murderer in Shinjuku. Compared to all the other criminals who died of similar causes, this guy seems insignificant and only the Japanese media reported this incident. That was the only clue I needed to know you're in Japan, Kira! And that man was just a test for your killings_!"

The whole police force was in a shocked silence as L went on.

" _I got lucky, casting my net out on the most populated area of Japan. I really didn't expect my plan to go so well. Kira, it's not far from the day you die_."

"That's the L I know." Matsuda said, confidently.

"Yes. He's proven that Kira exists and is in Japan." Chief commented back.

" _Kira, I'm extremely interested in your killing method. I'll figure it out when I catch you! Kira… I will hunt you down and destroy you! I am… justice! See you, Kira_."

The broadcast ended back into static before continuing the previous show. Someone turned the TV off and immediately, the room filled with the whispers of people talking about what had just occurred between the world's greatest detective and Kira. Glancing over at the door Andy had gone through, the Chief watched as she exited looking no happier than she was a moment ago and without her tea. She walked up to him and let out a sigh, rubbing the back of her head.

"Sorry, Chief, but is it okay if I head home? I guess I'm more tired than I thought."

"Of course." He nodded, still a bit suspicious as to what her reasoning was to leaving part way through the broadcast, but kind enough to recognize the exhausted look she had and kept from questioning it. "Get some rest and make sure to be awake tomorrow. I'm going to need you to do a few things for me."

"Yes, sir." She replied and headed towards the elevator, something odd for the woman who always took the stairs.

"Is she okay, Chief?" Matsuda asked, watching his friend leave, lacking the usual bounce in her step that he always saw.

"She's had a long week. I'm sure she'll be fine by tomorrow. For now, let's just get started on what L wants us to do."

Matsuda nodded and soon the whole force was back at work trying to uncover the identity behind Kira.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, I wasn't much rested despite my attempt at leaving work early. The moment Raye had showed up and had taken me home, I bombarded him with my own personal rant about what I thought about L and Kira's fight. Needless to say, it went on for a while and Raye was even kind enough to provide me with my favorite ice cream and listen carefully as I told him what I thought.

" _I mean, why sacrifice another life just to prove a point?! He could've figured out a different way to get his stupid answers! I mean, he's a genius, right?! What kind of detective vows to take down a murderer when technically he himself is one?! My God! I just want to—Ugh! He's no better than Kira! Nobody gets it! Criminals are human beings too! It's not like they were just born bad!"_

" _Now, Andy. Think about this a bit more. Isn't what he did the best option for now? It's still early on in this game of theirs, from what I could see, maybe he didn't really have a choice. The ICPO could've pressured him too, you know."_

" _I suppose, but that doesn't give him the right to just throw out another criminal to Kira like some kind of pawn!"_

" _Hey. It's for a better cause though. Maybe, with whatever clues Kira gave away this time, he could catch him. Then no more criminals would be killed. 'Lose the battle but win the war.' He may have killed off one criminal, and I agree that that isn't right, but by doing this he can save hundreds, if not thousands more. You should be happy that he's doing something to begin with. You know there's more than just one person who thinks what Kira is doing is actually good. So calm down and relax a bit. Isn't that why you left work early to begin with?"_

He was right too. I took most of the night to think it over and eventually I came to the decision that I would help L, if only to prevent more deaths from occurring _._ I may not be entirely happy about it, but I would get over that anger towards him sooner or later. Especially if I have a chance to understand what he was trying to do a bit better.

I sighed and pulled a hand through my hair as I sat at my computer going over the most recent deaths that have occurred due to Kira. Overall, there were a lot of deaths, some of which made me even more angered because at least three of them were people I had become acquainted with while I was staying undercover. I kept my cool though, since the Chief had already explained to me that a man named Watari would be sitting in as our contact to L. It was obvious that everyone was tenser because of his presence though, and I was waiting to see what would happen; occasionally taking glances to see who was the most nervous. _Hm, Shintaka and Toshiro are definitely tense. They keep glancing at him like he's going to jump up and arrest them or something. Mogi and Ukita are pretty relaxed though, but they normally are from what I see._ I pushed my thoughts to the side and got up to get some tea, patting my right breast pocket to double check that I brought my own tea leaves with me this time. I had relatives who lived in England and they always sent me the best stuff.

Glancing at Watari as I passed, I wondered if he would like anything. _It must suck having to sit there all day and not say a word. I might as well grab him some tea too and if he doesn't want it, I'll just drink it. I could use the energy boost anyway._ Humming quietly to myself, I finished up the tea and poured two cups before heading back out, ignoring the stares of the other officers as I went towards Watari. I set the cup down next to him and gave a small smile, to ease any tension.

"Thought you might want something to drink. It's not the usual Japanese tea though. Sorry about that."

He didn't lift his hat or anything, but nodded. "Thank you."

"Sure thing." I replied and went back to my seat just as the Chief stood up to announce the start of our report. The first things we spoke of were anything not relating to Kira and then we hurriedly moved onto what was more important; Watari having opened the laptop and facing it to the front—which kept me out of the view of it, should the computer have a camera—which I was thankful for.

" _Let's move on to the victims report_."

"As you wish." Toshiro said. "Information on all the victims that died of heart failure could indeed have been discovered from Japan. In addition…" He glanced back at the computer nervously and I smirked to myself. "…confirming the timeframe of these deaths, as per L's request… Monday through Friday, all these deaths occurred between 4pm and 2am, Japan time. Weekdays and holidays, between 11am and into the middle of the night. These times are much more inconsistent though."

 _A student then?_ I thought, adding the note to my own personal file on Kira and his behavior.

" _Hm, alright, next. What about the general public_?"

"Here." Another officer stood up. "To date, we've received 3,029 phone calls from members of the general population. Most of them were inquiries such as 'Was the ICPO broadcast real?' 'Is L real?' and so on. We received fourteen calls along the lines of 'I know Kira' or, 'I saw Kira'. We've followed up and recorded all fourteen. But, as we stated in the report, we doubt that any of these are credible. We've received calls from 21 people, all of them saying 'I am Kira'."

"Oh brother." I muttered quietly. _I probably just a bunch of kids wanting to get attention or Kira supporters._

"So as not to preclude any possibilities, we've followed up and recorded all 21."

"Okay." The Chief said. "So now that we've been briefed, does anyone have anything else to add?"

"Ah, yes." Matsuda stood up and I wondered what he could have to provide.

"Go ahead, Matsuda."

"I don't mean to give Kira any praise, but… in the past few days, criminal activity around the world and especially in Japan has decreased dramatically."

The room went quiet and I felt a bit bad for him. Feeling the need to fix the situation he was in, when the chief asked if there was anything else, I stood up. He seemed a bit surprised.

"Ah, yes, Sanders?"

"I have reason to believe that Kira may be of late high school age or early college age."

His eyes widened. "What makes you think that?"

"First off, the times of the killings were all around the time a student would get out of school. Not only that though, but if the person were any younger they would be using Kira's powers to… say get back at people they dislike. Whereas an older person would most likely use it to get higher in life or improve their business prospects."

"Power?"

I nodded. "That's what I believe it to be. For now, there is no other explanation for how Kira does what he does. I would assume that whoever this 'Kira' person is, somehow obtained this power and it ended up… changing him, for lack of a better term. The power gave him a chance to make the world a better place and he took that chance and became who he is now. Ah, but that's just a theory I came up with through my experiences. I have no physical facts to back it up, sorry."

" _No_." The voice from the laptop startled me a bit, but I tried not to show it as I stared back at the device; wondering what L had to say. " _It is a very… intriguing theory and one that I will take into further consideration. I also believe that Kira may be a student around that age range with the facts that have been presented to us today. I appreciate your input, Miss Sanders. Thank you. I think we're beginning to get close, but before I leave, I have one more request. This is for the victims unit, the media unit, and the internet unit. I'd like you to carefully examine how the Japanese media reported information on these victims. I need to know whether or not any images of the perpetrators were shown. Thank you for your cooperation_."

Watari closed the laptop and, having already sat down, I gave a grin to Matsuda who was staring at me in shock.

"On that note, night shift goes to team two. Everybody else, either continue the investigation or go home and rest up. That is all." The Chief announced.

He went back to his office and people began to pack up and start heading home; a few of them glaring at me or giving me looks. Matsuda immediately jumped up and hurried over to me with shock plain as day on his face.

"How'd you know all of that, Andy?! That was amazing!"

I chuckled at him and just waved my hand. "I didn't _know_ any of that. I figured it out, Matsuda. I've been studying people for most of my life so what's studying one more? Besides, the facts were all there. You just have to connect the dots, is all. Anyway, I probably just threw myself under the bus with all the glares I'm getting."

Matsuda looked around the room and frowned with his own glare, before turning back to me. "Well, they're just mad they couldn't figure that out, Andy. Even I'm a bit jealous! You're pretty smart."

I shook my head. "Not even, Matsuda."

Just then, someone walked up to us and a cup was placed down on my desk.

"I thank you for the tea, Miss Sanders, and for your help today with the case. Might I ask what tea that was? It was very… unique."

I blinked a few times at Watari, before giving a small smile. "Well, it was my own blend but I guess it's just Earl Grey with a bit of orange and honey added in. I have relatives over in England that send me tea leaves all the time, so I've acquired a taste for that over the usual coffee."

He nodded and tilted his hat a bit before leaving, and I too began to pack up my things and shut down my computer. If I thought today was bad, I knew the next few days would be just as bad, if not worse, now that L had challenged Kira. If I knew anything about the criminals I worked with, I knew that most don't wait very long before they retaliate in some way.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been a few days and the deaths were just piling up.

"23 more deaths just yesterday?!" The Chief yelled.

I sighed and went on with a small side case that I was figuring out. I had promised a friend in prison that I would try to help him out as much as I could with his case, involving him robbing his father's home and accidentally harming the man. _The evidence is stacked up against him and with his father being elderly, the jury would be pushed in his favor unless I find something that can switch things around._ I glanced at the date and frowned, sighing to myself.

"And his trial's supposed to happen at the end of the week. I'm running out of options."

"Something wrong, Andy?" Matsuda asked, still trying to keep track of what was happening across the way between the Chief and the other officers.

"Nothing to worry about, Matsuda. We're better off trying to help the Chief anyway we can, then worrying about my issues."

I gestured towards said man, just as they began discussing further on the Kira case.

"The same thing happened on the day before. Every hour on the hour, one after another."

"For this to happen two weekdays in a row…"

"I think our student theory has a hole in it."

I twitched. "Idiots."

They must have heard me, for all eyes turned to me with glares again.

"You got something to say, Sanders?" One of the officers snarled.

I'm not one to normally start conflicts and, with me still being a new member on this squad, I knew better than to escalate the hatred towards me any more than it already was. So, I just frowned and shook my head.

"No. It's… unimportant."

" _That may not necessarily be true, Miss Sanders. Please, tell us what you think_."

I sent a glare at the computer sitting on the table behind me. L obviously did not see how the atmosphere thickened the moment he spoke to me, but there was no way I could defy him without causing more problems, so I sighed and explained.

"He's challenging you, L. He's trying to show that he can kill whenever he wants and that, just because we know he's a student, doesn't mean he can't kill at different times. Although, I suppose this also means that he has some way to get po—"

"That will be enough, Sanders. Thank you."

I stopped, a bit surprised that L cut me off, but nodded and took my seat again. _He doesn't want me to say that Kira has a way of getting police information? But why? It's pretty obvious…_ I glanced around and then slowly came to the realization that no, the other officers didn't know that police information was being leaked. _You can't be serious._ I rubbed my temples and got up to get some more tea just as I spotted Watari walking out.

I thought about following him, but I knew that if Watari was L's handler, then he had to be pretty skilled in order to keep people from tracing him back to L's hideout. So I quickly gave up that idea. Instead, I got up and packed my things. I needed to see if I could get any information from my client's father's neighbors about what they had possibly heard or seen when the conflict happened.

"Are you going somewhere, Andy?"

I nodded to Matsuda as I locked up my case files again. "I have to go speak with the neighbors of a client of mine for a side job I'm doing. I just need to get the chief's approval first."

"But shouldn't you be more worried about the Kira case?" He asked innocently.

"I suppose, but there's not much more we can do right now until he slips up, and from what I came up with about him, it'll be pretty hard to get him to screw up again after his little mishap with L earlier. He's going to be more careful now."

"Oh. Okay. That makes sense."

I chuckled. "It's supposed to. I'll be back later though, do you want me to pick you up some lunch or something?"

His eyes widened. "You don't have to do that!"

"It's no problem for me, Matsuda. I'll be out anyway, and you're probably the only one in this place besides the Chief who doesn't hate me in some way."

"B-But—"

"Matsuda. It's _fine_. Just tell me what you want from the deli down the street. I'd get something else, but I only know the places between here and my apartment. So it's either that, or the ramen shop."

He nodded and reached in his pocket to hand me the money for his lunch. "Well, just get me the club special then, Andy, but I'm paying for my own meal, o-okay?"

I smiled lightly. "Whatever floats your boat, Matsuda. Don't want to make you uncomfortable or anything."

He began to wave his hands around. "N-No! I wasn't uncomfortable or anything! I-I—"

"My God, Matsuda! I was kidding!" We both laughed and I waved back to him as I made my way over to the Chief.

 _The man's definitely going to overwork himself with this case._ I thought as I watched the Chief go through paper after paper of Kira files through the window. Knocking on his office door, I wandered in.

"Chief?"

He looked up with tired eyes. "Yes. What is it you need, Sanders?"

I closed the door behind me and came closer to his desk. "I was wondering if I could go out in order to work on a side case I'm working on for a client of mine."

He frowned. "You are supposed to be working on the Kira case, Sanders, not running around doing side jobs."

I nodded. "I know that, Chief, but I don't believe we can discover anything more about Kira until he messes up again so searching for him now seems a bit pointless to me."

"Pointless? You think that you can treat this case like just another minor burglary?!"

"No, sir." I said, trying to keep calm in order to gently push my point along without losing my job or angering the Chief even further. "I agree with you that this case is of utmost importance, but there is nothing I can do with the miniscule amount of evidence we have right now. Believe me when I say that I want to catch Kira just as much as any other person on the force, but we hardly know anything about who we're going after and my client has his trial at the end of the week."

"No, Sanders. I will not allow you to just push aside this case so easily."

I frowned. "You don't understand what I'm asking, Chief. My client will be given the death penalty if I do not find evidence to support the fact that what happened was an accident. We may not have the power to stop Kira from killing more criminals, but at least I can prevent one more from dying. If you do not let me go, it will be the same as sentencing an innocent man to death, sir. I will only be gone a few hours to investigate the man's father's neighbors and his father's home before I will be back and working on the Kira case again, and as I said before, his trial is at the end of the week so I only have a limited amount of time to help him. The Kira case has a bit longer of a timeline." I bowed low at the waist. "So please, sir, let me help save an innocent man from both Kira and death."

There was a complete silence in the room as I kept my body bowed, before a long sigh escaped Mr. Yagami's lips.

"Very well. But _only_ for a few hours and then I want you back here working on the case."

I stood straight with a smile and nodded, saluting. "Yes, sir. Thank you."

He waved me off and I walked out of the office and out the door. _Hopefully, I could find some important information about what actually happened between him and his father._ I pulled out the address to my client's father's house and hailed a taxi to bring me there in the hopes of finding some evidence to support my client's tale.

* * *

"Thank you so much!" I said, bowing to the elder man at the door.

He smiled in return. "Of course! Mako may be a bit rebellious sometimes, but he's a good kid. Heh, although, he's not much of a kid now, is he?"

I shook my head with a smile. "Not really, but thank you again for your help. With this, I'll be able to knock down his sentence for sure!"

He nodded again and closed the door while I walked back to the taxi I had left waiting. Flipping through the pictures in my hand, I smiled brightly as the vehicle headed towards the deli. _I can't believe how lucky I was. Mr. Yoshiro had always looked out for Mako and videotaped the incident. He may not want to testify in court, but with these photos I have now, there's plenty of evidence to show it was an accident._ We stopped at the deli and I quickly grabbed myself and Matsuda a sandwich before climbing back in the taxi and leaving for the police station.

After paying the fee for the taxi, I hurried up the stairs and walked into the main room with a large grin. Unfortunately, it was short lived when I noticed the tense atmosphere and the three men standing in front of Chief Yagami.

"What is this?!"

"These are our letters of resignation. We would like to be reassigned, however if you cannot, we will quit."

My eyes widened in surprise as I watched from the doorway. _I didn't expect them to give up so quickly. They may have been some of the most nervous, but now that they are resigning, more will definitely follow._

"W-Why?" The Chief asked in visible shock.

"Why? Because we value our lives." The man speaking turned back to glance at Watari and the open laptop. "According to L," Then he rounded on me with an equally hated glare. "…and Sanders, Kira has psychic powers that can kill without him laying a finger on his victim, correct?"

The other two men decided to speak up for themselves too.

"If I were Kira, I'd kill every man after me."

"After all, if we caught him, he'd be executed."

The first man spoke up again, a bit more angrily. "L was taunting and daring Kira to kill him on television, wasn't he? But L has never revealed who he is in public and recently we were asked to check how the victims appeared in the Japanese media. 'Find if photographs of their faces were released.' And they were!" He shouted, slamming his hands onto the desk. "Every single one of the victims' faces was released to the public! Meaning every single investigator here who has shown his police ID is a potential target!" He turned to glare at me and calmed himself down a bit as well. "He could hit us at any time."

"So we request that we move to a new department, sir."

"Thank you for your consideration."

With that, they all started heading towards the door behind me. I moved aside a bit, but they still purposely shoved roughly into my shoulder as they passed and Mr. Yagami called out to them. Once the door slammed, everyone began to chatter and murmur about what they had said and what had just happened. I frowned, having seen this coming for a while now, but still not liking the possible outcomes. _Most likely, a majority of them will leave the force now that someone else has stood up for themselves. With the squad minimized to lower numbers, either L will leave us or we'll be forced to take more drastic measures to try and catch Kira._

I purposely avoided thinking about the men who left, thus avoiding the thoughts of them being selfish and uncaring towards criminals. I knew I had to keep my emotions out of cases such as this, especially since some of my friends from prison were involved, but that didn't mean that I wasn't angry.

"If you think about it, those guys might be right." A man whispered.

Another man followed. "L is safe behind a computer somewhere while we're putting ourselves in danger."

I grit my teeth as someone else mentioned me.

"Sanders too. She's new here and has probably never shown her badge to anyone."

"That's right. She's just as safe as L, if you think about it."

I let out a deep breath and relaxed my clenched fists, but continued to work my jaw. I took my seat calmly and passed Matsuda his sandwich as he glared at the gossiping police.

"Humph. They don't know what they're talking about. You do a great job here and who cares if you've never shown your badge? Just because you're safer than them doesn't give them a right to degrade you like that."

He frowned and I chuckled, causing him to stare at me in shock and surprise.

"Trust me, Matsuda, I've heard far worse than that. Having the job I do, it's pretty often I get called names and such. It's no big deal."

"No big deal? But, Andy!"

"Oh hush up and eat your sandwich. Besides, I'm in too good of a mood to be brought down by something expected like this."

He blinked, pausing mid-bite. "What do you mean 'expected'?"

"Exactly what I said. I knew someone was going to leave the task force, and I bet you a whole lot more are too."

"But why? I mean, I get why those three left, but the others too?"

I nodded. "Yup. I bet only about 7 or 8 will be left by the time everyone leaves."

"So few?!"

"Uh-huh." I took a bite out of my own sandwich. "I could probably name them too, but the others are leaving for a possibility of multiple reasons."

"Like what?" Matsuda asked as he finally bit into his sandwich.

"Hm, their family's safety is a big one. Then there's the natural human need to want to live or the fear of dying. Or they could even secretly be Kira supporters."

"No way!"

"Think about it. They're cops who put criminals away and Kira is getting rid of those criminals. They're not thinking hard enough to care about the fact that, if this continues, they'll probably be out of a job. No. They're too busy being happy that Kira's taking criminals off the streets."

"Well, I can see why they would think it's a good thing. What about you, Andy? Are you going to leave?"

I shook my head. "Nope. First off, this case is _way_ too interesting. Plus, I've gotten to know a lot of criminals and a good number of them are some pretty good people once you get to know them, and all of them have a reason behind why they did what they did. The reason I got fired from my last job was actually because I helped too many criminals. A number of the public didn't appreciate that and my boss fired me because their reputation was going down."

"Really? But you were only doing what was right by helping them out, weren't you? Why would they fire you for that?"

I smiled at Matsuda, glad that he understood and wasn't like the others who despised me for what I do.

"Because it's just how people are. They don't care about what's right or wrong, as long as they are able to do whatever benefits them. It's the natural way of life. Personal benefit controls all human beings and they eventually give in to it and become corrupted."

"Wow. I never thought of it like that."

He leaned back into his chair and finished off his sandwich as I did the same. Then, he seemed to come to some realization.

"Hey, you said you were happy earlier. Did something good happen with your case?"

My eyes widened and I nodded, hastily pulling out the photos I had yet to lock up. Waving the manila envelope at him as I unlocked my filing cabinet, I grinned.

"I have photos from a video camera that captured the whole incident. Courtesy of a neighbor who liked my client."

"Whoa! So that's a big break for you then!"

"You bet. Now let's see what we can dig up about Kira, shall we?"

He nodded with a large grin and we went back to work, my mind whirling at the prospects of this case and my newest findings. _He can kill with a name and a face, so let's find out how far back this actually went._


	4. Chapter 4

The week was finally over and the trial I had for my client Mako went along with no problems. I made sure the trial itself was very secretive and that no media were allowed as well as the fact that everyone had to agree to a confidentiality contract in order to keep my client safe from the hands of Kira. I knew that this probably wouldn't deter the "victims" from spreading this information, so I made sure to keep Mako's face covered and to have him use a different name just in case. Luckily, the case was soon over and Mako was not given the death sentence, to our relief. It was a close call though and, although he did get sentenced for life in jail, we were both very pleased at the outcome.

Needless to say, Raye and I celebrated the night the trial was over and I was in an overly good mood the next morning as I walked into work with Raye trailing behind. His job didn't start until later and he was determined to literally walk me to my desk.

"Why are you still following me, Raye? I'm already at work. You can go."

He frowned and pulled me closer to him as he saw the many glares of the other officers staring in my direction.

"Because, bunny, I already told you about that guy following you and you still don't listen to me when I tell you your brother will _kill_ me if anything happens."

I rolled my eyes. "So what if my brother's overprotective. He couldn't kill you if he wants to because you'd end up knocking him to the floor in three seconds flat."

I had purposely ignored his comment about my so called "stalker" because I had figured it out already. The guy was most likely a cop who was assigned to follow me due to Kira and L. _L probably called in a few favors in order to have the task force trailed. That's why he cut me off before too, since if they knew info was being leaked, then they could easily come to the conclusion that L doesn't trust us and would have us investigated as well. L does a thorough job of both, keeping himself safe and having all his possibilities checked._

I glanced at my desk as Raye continued to glare at the opposing officers, and I turned back to him.

"Look, I'm at my desk now, so you can go. I seriously can't have you up here because the case we're doing is confidential."

He sighed dramatically. "Oh, tis such sweet sorrow!~ To be forced to part from my young lady in her time of need!~"

I smacked him on the arm. "What time of need? I have to work!"

He smiled with a chuckle, before walking off, turning back with a wave.

"I'll see you tonight, bunny! Try not to piss off any more coworkers, you hear?!"

I dropped my head into my hand and sat down at my desk, the hint of a smile on my face.

"That idiot."

Matsuda rolled his chair over and glanced between the elevator door that Raye went out of and me.

"I-Is he your, uh—"

I glanced up at Matsuda as he looked confused with his finger pointing at the elevator.

"No. Absolutely not. He is not my boyfriend. He's just a friend that I'm sharing rent with."

Matsuda's eyes widened. "You're living with him?!"

I face palmed. "Yes! But not like that! I mean—" I cut myself off and looked around, pulling Matsuda closer to talk to him. "He's gay, Matsuda."

He immediately shot up in his seat. "You're kidding?!"

I shook my head. "No. He really is."

"So that means… you're single?"

I raised a brow at Matsuda's red face as he scratched his cheek nervously. "Well, yeah. I'm not exactly 'together' with anyone or anything. I think the whole guy attitude and overprotective brother pushed most guys away. Not to mention the fact that I make friends with criminals."

I shrugged and started typing up information into my file of my previous case, declaring it closed and typing up the sentence Mako received. I then printed it out as a hard copy and put it into my filing cabinet. Just then, the phone rang and the Chief picked it up, catching my attention.

"Yeah, it's me… Six more?… Heart attacks, that's Kira…"

A few of the guys nearby got upset, but I ignored them as Chief Yagami's face light up in shock.

"What?! They acted strangely before they died? What do you mean? Not just heart failure?" The Chief began shoving his paperwork over and opened up his laptop in a hurry. "Hold on. I want to input these details. Tell me slowly… Okay. Name? Shirami Misaaki. The serial arson who killed 13 people."

I quickly popped up the files I had and looked up the name, also popping up the police files to see what the Chief had just added. On the screen were the lists of addresses Misaaki had burned down as well as the list of people who were killed in each building. It was determined in his trial that he was deemed mentally unstable and he was sentenced to therapy, but hadn't been moved to the new facility yet. _So then Kira killed him. I guess he thought that the man deserved to be punished more harshly._ I scowled and moved onto the information the Chief had just added in. Unfortunately, all I got was the information on the people killed, but I knew there was more than that because the Chief was still in a state of complete shock as he hung up the phone and stared at his computer. He pulled a hand through his hair and then caught my eyes as I watched him, patiently waiting for him to call me. I was more than eager to see what he had been sent and he must have saw that, since he called out to me.

"Sanders, I want you to come take a look at this and tell me what you think."

I nodded enthusiastically, ignoring the murmurs as officers glared at me, and got up to stand behind him and look at the three images that were sent to him. The first was a pentagram that one criminal drew on the wall of his cell. The second was a man collapsed in a bathroom, but the third was definitely more interesting. It was a suicide note that the third criminal wrote that went as so.

" _With fear I know it._

 _Only living in vain in this_

 _nerve-wracking state that I_

 _know this._

 _Ultimately, he who calls_

 _out to me, he who_

 _yearns for my death, will kill me._

 _Of course I know it._

 _Definitely for Kira I am just…_

 _Literally a prey."_

Scanning over the letter, I scrunched up my brows and stood up straight with a hand on my chin.

"Chief, could you send this to my laptop and let me borrow one of the interrogation rooms for a moment?"

He raised a brow. "I suppose I could, but what does that—"

"I need someplace to think away from others. Just give me a little bit and I'll have some information for you about Kira."

He nodded and went ahead to send the info to my laptop, which I picked up to follow him to an interrogation room. I had also brought along my portable speakers, but Chief Yagami didn't question it before he closed the door behind him and I got to work. I set up my speakers and plugged them into my laptop before placing a CD into the drive and letting the loud rock music take over the sound proof room.

I took a deep breath, letting the music flow through my head before I dove in and began researching on the six men that were killed and the three men in particular, who had done something odd before dying. Misaaki, I discovered, had done the pentagram drawing, but upon researching him, I found out that he had no background at all in satanic rituals or even a religion. He had actively declared that he was atheist to any and all who knew him. Making sure to make note of that, I moved on to the next one, the man who had died in a bathroom.

Yoda had apparently escaped from prison somehow and ran into a bathroom where he died. This was very odd, since I knew for a fact that the man had a building nearby that he could have easily hidden in until the police were gone. I knew he would have hidden there, because he was one of the men that I played chess with while in prison and he beat me every time. Thus stating that he was fairly intelligent along with the fact that he was able to actually _escape_ from the prison. _Not only that, but he was another one I spoke with and he told me that he wasn't even trying to get out anymore because he had accepted his fate and that, although he said he could have easily gotten out, he knew what he did was wrong and he wanted to atone for it by staying and serving his full sentence. Which further proves that this was Kira's doing._ Shaking my head out of my thoughts, I moved on to the final piece of evidence, the letter.

I looked up Yadanaka and went through any and all of his files, making sure that he was not a suicidal person at all. What's more, the man was very social when I saw him in prison. He seemed actually happy to be where he was and made jokes constantly about how he would get out of prison and start up a pet store. _So why would he suddenly become like this? This isn't like him at all. None of this note is what_ he _would say, but perhaps… Kira is the one who wrote this… somehow. Which can only mean—_

"He can control their actions before death." I muttered, not even capable of being heard over the loud music. "That would explain why all six died at the same time, but only three did anything. He was testing his boundaries; his powers. He wanted to see what he was capable of doing and these three where successful while the other three were not."

I began scanning the note again, only this time, with the mind of Kira. _Why would Kira write this? Why would he go out of his way to send a message? And who to?…_

"L. He has to be sending it to L, but this message says nothing… Unless it's in code." I began thinking of every possible coding I've learned over the years of chasing down criminals and then I spotted it. It was a simple code, but something not very obvious especially since it was in Japanese. If I had it in English though, I could see that, although he wrote sentences, he split up the sentences in particular ways. He would move the sentence down to the next line even though he still had room. Then I looked at the first word of each line and when that wasn't it, I looked at the first letter.

" _L, do you know"_

"This has to be it… and this means that there'll be more notes because this one's incomplete."

I scowled and shut off my music, closing my laptop and gathering my things. I needed to keep the Chief from reporting any of these deaths as anything other than "death by heart attack". _Although, if Kira has access to police files, then he might be able to get the information anyway._ Then, I realized something. _Wait a minute, I couldn't access the actual details of it because I didn't have clearance, so if he_ is _able to get to it, that means he has the connection through someone higher up in the ranks than I am. That'll definitely narrow down the field._ I grinned and walked over to the Chief quickly.

He stood up as I hurried over. "Do you have anything?"

I nodded. "Yes, but you have to make sure not to report anything other than the victims dying by heart failure."

"What?" The Chief asked.

L's voice came over the speaker suddenly, startling me since I had forgotten he was even present.

" _Do what she says, Chief. Miss Sanders seems to have come to the same conclusion as myself. There is a possibility that Kira is conducting a test and by reporting what happened, we will be feeding him the results_."

"Fine." He said, as two other officers next to him shook their heads in shame.

"Using criminals for some kind of test?"

"Unforgivable."

"Toying with people's lives? I will not allow it!" The Chief said. He then turned to me. "So what is it you have discovered? Anything other than this?"

"For the most part, no, but I have figured out a few things. For instance, L?" I glanced over at the silent computer. "Did you get the message?"

There was silence for a moment, before the mechanical voice spoke once more.

"Message?"

I nodded. "Yes, in Yadanaka's note. I'm sure you'll figure it out and I don't want to give you any specifics, unless you want me to. It's not detrimental to the case though, other than informing me that there will be more such notes."

"I see. I will find this message."

My lips twitched upwards at what he said, not only because of the determination behind the voice (mechanical or otherwise), but also because he was taking up my challenge with the overwhelming need to find what I discovered before he could. At least, that's what I assumed him to be doing. My thoughts on behavior are never 100% accurate, but I've very rarely had a moment where I was proven thoroughly wrong. That, and L reminded me very much of Kira himself. Not because of their intelligence, but more for the fact that it appears that they both hate to lose. _I'll have to remind myself to add that to L's file on my computer later. After all, I don't need a physical person in front of me to guess what L's personality is like._

Turning back to the group, I opened my laptop on the Chief's desk and went through my files to show them what I had come up with.

"I pretty much looked up the background to all three of the criminals who did something odd before they died and determined that this was not _them_ actually doing it."

" _How did you determine that_?" L's voice asked.

"Background checks and personal experience, really. Misaaki was not religious and very open about stating that he was atheist. Therefore, he would most likely not draw such a thing since he would have no reason to. Then Yoda was a friend of mine—"

" _Friend_?"

I glanced at the computer where Watari sat overlooking the whole thing.

"Yes. I had an assignment before the Kira case where I needed to go undercover at a prison. I got to know a good number of the criminals there and became what you would call 'friends' with them. For the sake of others listening in, this does not change my view on Kira or what he is doing and, if anything, only drives me further to catch him." I shifted my gaze to stare back at the other officers in the room before returning my gaze to my files. "Now, as I was saying, when I became friends with Yoda, I often played chess with him. He was not stupid at all and was, to me, a fairly intellectual person. He actually told me in prison that he had the perfect way to escape prison, but had decided that he would never use it. He said he was done trying to escape because he realized that what he had done was wrong and he said he was going to stay in prison to finish his sentence. Thus, I do not believe that he would go out to escape to die in a bathroom, especially since he told me before of the building he had been planning to hide out in should he actually escape."

"So what? Since when is a criminal's word the truth?!" An officer shouted out.

I frowned and stared at the man. "Since the fact that I saved the man's life while I was in prison and actually did my job in trying to help him understand the severity of the situation he was in. It is my _job_ to not discriminately judge others based on what mistakes they did previously."

The man scoffed and I stood straight, so that I was no longer hovering over my computer.

"What's your name?"

He raised a brow before glaring. "It's Kotetsu."

"Okay then, Kotetsu. Let me tell you something, since you don't think that what I do is the truth. You have a girlfriend, but you recently broke up, probably due to your smoking habit, so you're trying to quit. You, not necessarily _support_ Kira, but you believe all criminals are scum that need to be punished without even getting to know their back story or the reason behind what they did. You're most likely going to quit the force, like the other three from earlier, because deep down, you feel Kira is doing something right. Should I go on?"

"You have no proof!"

I smirked. "No, but for all you know, maybe I do. Not only that, but you're a very determined person. You're going to try and prove me wrong by staying on the force, but now that everyone knows, will they be willing to trust you over me? Will they be willing to let you stay on, knowing the fact that I just called you out on something that I have no proof of? I have done what many do to criminals. I have seeded doubts in their minds and now, they won't believe you. Just like juries don't believe criminals due to something stupid. Do you still think I don't know what I'm talking about, Kotetsu?"

The man opened and closed his mouth like a fish, before closing it shut and standing up. He walked over to the Chief, and slammed down something on his desk.

"Take it. I'm resigning. I'm done dealing with this."

He turned to walk out the door, but not before muttering a curse under his breath.

" _Bitch._ "

I bent over my computer once more. "Sticks and stones, Kotetsu. Sticks and stones."

The door was slammed shut and the Chief glared at me.

"Was that really necessary?"

"Believe it or not sir, but yes. It was. Either way, he was going to leave the force, as you can see from his prewritten letter of resignation. But he also insulted what I do and the man who just died. He needed to understand that what he does and what I do are the same thing. We both same lives; be it the criminal's or the victim's. And I'll be _damned_ if I let someone speak that way about a man I was willing to risk my life for."

Mr. Yagami sighed and nodded solemnly. "Just… try not to do it again."

"I suppose I could try." I stated with a small smirk. "Apologies, though, L. Didn't mean for you to hear all that."

"It was certainly interesting." He stated and I grinned.

"You bet. Now, where was I… ah! Yadanaka. I went and looked him up and was able to find nothing that indicated suicidal tendencies and the fact that he was a very social man in prison, helped me determine that the note was not something he would write."

" _Define social. I do not believe that him being social would prevent him from writing such letter_."

I glanced at the computer L once again. "He was normally seen in a large group of prisoners and spoke of getting out of prison to start up a pet store. The only trouble he had, was being in prison. From there I determined that he did not write this note, so Kira must have. But since Kira is never at the scene of a crime, I jumped to the conclusion that he used his powers to control Yadanaka into writing that as a message for someone. And who else would Kira message but you, L?"

" _I see your point_."

"The only other thing that I discovered would be the message which, when you find it, will be incomplete, showing that there will be more messages to come."

I nodded definitively and closed my laptop while everyone thought over what I had said. It felt good to actually have someone believing what I was saying and understanding that I could be a valuable asset despite my views on criminals. I felt the pride welling up in my chest, but immediately squashed it down. I knew too much pride could be a horrible thing, so I always made sure to keep feelings like that hidden deep down to where I would not dwell on them. Some might view it as not being appreciative to myself and the things I do, but what others thought didn't matter. It worked for me and kept me from becoming overly… well, prideful, so it was something I'd probably continue to do for a while to come.

" _Sanders_."

"Yes?"

I stared at the computer hiding L and wondered what he was going to say now.

" _What, may I ask, is your profession_?"

I blinked a few times in confusion, not sure why he wanted to know, but answered nonetheless.

"I'm a criminal psychologist. I normally help the police catch criminals based on clues that they leave behind, but I also work on my own as a defense attorney to help criminals prove their innocence in crimes to either lower their sentence or simply prove themselves when no one else will listen."

" _I see. Thank you, for your input today, Miss Sanders. I look forward to hearing your opinion later on_."

I nodded and walked back to my desk, where Matsuda was waiting with wide eyes. For the rest of the day, he took pride in retelling what had occurred earlier between Kotetsu and me as well as complimenting my work. It wasn't long though, before the day was over and I needed to be heading home. I thanked Matsuda, who offered me a ride, but I denied him knowing that Raye should be coming to get me soon enough. Matsuda was a bit disappointed, but left somewhat cheerfully and not long after, as I was sitting at my desk, my cell phone rang.

"Hello. This is Sanders."

" _Hey there, Andy_!"

I frowned. It was Raye. "Don't tell me…"

" _Eheh, sorry bunny, but I can't pick you up today. I somehow managed to get overtime_."

I sighed. "You know, if you called maybe ten minutes earlier, I could've gotten a ride from Matsuda."

" _Oh! You mean that guy who sits next to you? The peppy young one_?"

I could practically hear the excitement in his voice and I silently hoped he didn't have his sights on poor Matsuda.

"Yeah, but it's too late now. I'll just walk home."

I got up from my desk and headed for the stairs, having already packed away my things.

" _Okay. Sorry again, bunny. Be careful too, on your way out."_

I rolled my eyes. "I may be just a criminal psychologist, but I still took the tactical training. I'll be fine… and didn't I tell you once already? Stop calling me bunny!"

He laughed. " _Ahaha! Whatever you say, bunny! Bye_!"

He hastily hung up the phone before I could berate him about calling me 'bunny' again and I sighed, walking out of the building and down the sidewalk. I pulled out my iPod and unraveled my headphones, turning up the volume to drown out the noise around me and my own rambling thoughts.

It takes roughly half an hour to get from my home to the station walking, so I wasn't really worried about anything happening, even if it was well after 10 o'clock. My gun was safely secured in its holster under my trench coat and, if anything, I was more confident in my hand-to-hand combat. I've never once shot anyone, on the job or off, for multiple reasons. First off, it was easier not to fatally harm someone with hand-to-hand and secondly, I can talk my way out of most situations with criminals. Thus, I wasn't totally surprised when someone came up behind me and pressed something to my neck.

"If you don't want me to hurt you, walk into that alley way over there."

I did as was instructed and waited for further instructions, ignoring the slight sting of the cold metal cutting my skin.

"Drop your wallet and anything worth money on the ground where you are and I'll let you go."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"What kind of stupid question is that? Of course I'm sure!"

I rolled my eyes at the man's temper and began reaching into my pockets to pull out my wallet. As luck would have it, I couldn't find the stupid thing. _Where did I leave it? Did I even take it to work with me?_ A sudden flash of a lazy cat sitting on top of my wallet flashed through my head and I frowned. _Great. I was going to grab it before I left, but that darn cat—_

"Hurry it up!"

"Unfortunately, I seemed to have left my wallet at home."

The knife cut deeper into my neck and I felt the slow trickle of blood making its way down my neck as the man grew frustrated with me.

"The hell you did! Give me the damn money!"

I sighed, not really impressed with this man's way of going about things.

"I already told you, I don't have my wallet."

"Then what's this?!"

He reached into my back pocket, taking his time which had me _very_ close to just dealing with him myself, before he pulled out my badge. Of course, he didn't know it was my badge until he opened it up.

"Y-Y-You're a cop?!"

"Well, yes. I am technically a police officer."

The man was conflicted with himself, that I was sure of.

"So, are you going to hurt me now? I don't have anything to give you, really."

"I-I…"

The knife that he had held against my throat was quivering slightly, but I ignored it.

"How'd you end up in this situation anyway? Gambling?"

The man stuttered again. "I-It's none of your business!"

"Ah, so it was gambling. Lost all your money then? But that wouldn't give you reason to mug somebody. So your wife expecting you home?"

"I said it's none of your business!"

"Okay. If you want, I think I have some bills in my other pocket. I had some money left over from my lunch. You can take it if you want. You have any kids?"

"I-I… Why are you being so nice to me? Shouldn't you be m-mad at me? I'm trying to rob you!"

I waved my hand around. "I have no reason to be mad at you. You made a simple mistake and are trying to support your family. I'm guessing you have at least one kid then?"

"T-Two."

I smiled a bit. "Well, then. What's your name?"

"T-Takeshi Yamatoke."

"Take the money in my pocket, Yamatoke, and try your best to stop gambling while you're ahead. It would be upsetting if those kids lost a father."

There was complete silence for a moment, before I felt the man slowly lowering the knife.

"Y-You're right… I'm so—-"

The man suddenly groaned in pain and the knife sliced though my neck as he fell to the ground. I cursed, putting a hand to my neck to stop the bleeding as best as I could, before turning to the man as he clutched at his chest. _No! Are you serious?! Damn it Kira!_ I stopped holding my neck and pulled out my phone to call an ambulance as I began CPR to try and keep this man alive.

"Come on. Come on. You've got two kids you need to get home to!"

" _119, what is your emergency?"_

"This is officer Andy Sanders and there is a man here having a heart attack. I'm at the corner of —"

I rattled off the block numbers and they informed me that an ambulance was on its way. I hung up my phone quickly and checked the man's pulse, but I didn't find one. I grit my teeth and continued CRP, when a thought passed through my head. _This man… If I was his first victim, then he wouldn't have had his face or name on the news anywhere. That would mean that Kira was able to see us when the man said his name earlier. Kira was here!_

I glanced around the alleyway as I pumped the man's chest and noticed that the only way Kira could have seen us was if he was walking past. _It could be just about anyone then. Damn it!_

My vision was beginning to get foggy from the blood loss, but I kept trying to get Yamatoke's heart beating again. _The man is leaving two kids behind and what am I going to tell his wife? I couldn't tell her he died because Kira saw him trying to mug me!_ I was cut out of my thoughts by a pair of hands grabbing my shoulders.

"Ma'am, he's gone."

"I know that." I told the paramedic. "I know."

I reluctantly stopped and allowed the man to place a towel against my neck to stop the blood flow

"Hold this here, while I get the stretcher. You're Miss Sanders, correct?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I am."

"Okay. Stay right here."

I nodded and did as he asked before he and his partner helped me onto the stretcher as another ambulance came by and picked up Yamatoke. Yet, the only thought going through my head at the moment was visions of the crying faces this man's children were going to have when they found out their father was dead.


	5. Chapter 5

I was still in a bit of a daze either because of the blood loss, or because of the shock, I don't know. The doctor was still wrapping my neck in gauze, probably much more gauze than was needed, but I was just staring past him at the family of Yamatoke as they cried over their loss in the hallway.

"Are you listening, Miss Sanders?"

"Hm?" I blinked at the doctor innocently, having not heard a word he said or even when he started talking.

He sighed. "I said, make sure you keep your wound clean to prevent infection and I'll give you some pain medication for now. Take one whenever you feel the need to. Also, stay away from strenuous activity for tomorrow… or today since it's already past one. You lost quite a bit of blood so I don't need you coming back here because you passed out. Lastly, try to avoid turning your head period, in order to keep the stitches from tearing."

"Do I need to come back to get them removed?"

He shook his head. "No. They'll dissolve in about a week. So you won't have to worry about that."

I nodded and he headed towards the door, turning around. "You can pick up your pain medication at the front desk and you're free to go as soon as your ride comes."

"Thank you." I replied and he left, leaving me to sit on the bed and wait for Raye, who was furious that I let something like this happen. Just the thought of him coming here and scolding me would've been amusing, if it weren't for the fact that I was more than exhausted. I let out a deep breath just as a quiet knock sounded at the door. I glanced up and there, standing before me, was a young woman whose makeup had smeared from her crying.

"A-Are you Officer S-Sanders?"

"Yes, and I am sorry for your loss."

She shook her head as another tear fell. "No. Thank you, for trying so hard to save him. I-It's a bit difficult to bare, but I-I'll make it through somehow."

I gave a short nod, heeding my doctor's warning to not move my head around too much, when I spotted two children clutching their mother's clothes. A little girl and a little boy stared back at me with tear filled eyes, and I gave them a small smile.

"Your father told me about you two. Who's older?"

The girl shrunk back, but the boy hesitantly pointed at himself after getting the okay from his mom. I got up from my place on the bed and knelt down in front of the boy, admiring his short black hair.

"Make sure to take care of your little sister, okay? The big brother always has to be strong, right?"

He nodded and I smiled, ruffling his hair just as someone coughed from the doorway. Raye stood there with his arms crossed and giving me a hard look, to which I rolled my eyes and smiled back at the boy.

"At least you don't have to be scolded like I do."

"Oh please." Raye said. "I'm not the one who said 'Oh I'm not going to get hurt'~"

As he quoted me, he wiggled his hips playfully, making the two kids laugh.

"Well, bye kids." I said, giving them a wave, which the brother returned with a grin and the sister went behind her mother's leg again.

"Thank you again." She said with a bow and I nodded carefully before leaving with Raye back to my apartment. The whole car ride was really tense, since he hadn't said a word, and I was beginning to get more and more nervous about what was going to happen when I got home. _He's totally going to scold me. Or what if he called my brother?! Oh my God, my brother would kill me if he heard about this!_ I fidgeted impatiently even as we walked up the stairs and into our shared apartment. I decided to take the initiative and turned around to face Raye.

"I'm sorry Raye. I—"

I was cut off as Raye enveloped me in a hug, being careful of my wound.

"You idiot! Do you know how scared I was?!"

"I-I'm guessing really scared?"

He pulled back. "This is no time for jokes, bunny. You could've been killed! It was centimeters away from nicking your artery!"

"It was an accident though, Raye! The guy didn't mean to!"

"What do you mean, 'didn't mean to'? The man attacked you with a knife!"

I began then, to explain the whole story of what happened and after another hour or so, Raye had finally calmed down. I, on the other hand, was thoroughly exhausted after such a long day.

"Okay? So he didn't attack me." I ended with a yawn and Raye finally sighed, coming over and helping me up from the couch.

"Okay, okay. I get it. Now let's get you to bed. You're obviously tired and, knowing you, you'll still want to go to work tomorrow. So, no arguments, just head to bed."

Needless to say, I did what I was told for once.

* * *

I went into work the next day, and immediately, Matsuda was asking questions about what happened.

"Oh my God, Andy! What happened to your neck?!"

 _Great. Now all eyes are on me._ I rolled my eyes and set my stuff down at my desk.

"I'll tell you later, Matsuda. I need to speak with the Chief right now."

He seemed a bit surprised at my laid back attitude, but nodded and left me to go talk with Mr. Yagami. I knocked on his door and opened it, to find Watari in there already with him.

"Oh, uh, sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt."

The Chief opened his mouth, but another voice cut him off.

" _No need, Miss Sanders_." L said. " _We have already finished. Please, say what you need to._ "

I couldn't see the screen, so L couldn't see me, but that wasn't really important. What _was_ important was what I was about to say.

"I, uh, had a bit of a… disturbing encounter yesterday."

Watari moved to the side and exposed me to both, the screen and Chief Yagami.

"My God, Sanders. What happened?"

"That's actually what I came in here to tell you. I was witness to one of Kira's killings last night."

The room went dead quiet and L spoke up.

" _I assume this has something to do with the wound on your neck_."

"Yes." I then proceeded to explain in as much detail as I could, what had happened last night just as I had to Raye; inputting my thoughts of Kira being at the scene as well.

" _So you believe that Kira was_ _there_ _at the scene in order to kill Mr. Yamatoke_?"

"Yes, sir. He had to have been since I did look up his name and found no criminal record. There was no way Kira could have known that the man was mugging someone unless he was there on sight."

" _I see. I will have Watari check up on any security footage in that area to see if we caught anything_." L stated.

"Okay. I'll just get back to work then."

I went to leave, opening the door and taking a step out, when L called out to me once again.

" _Miss Sanders_."

"Yes?"

" _Do be a bit more careful_."

I smiled slightly. "I'll try my best."

* * *

It had been a week since my attack and we had had little to no luck on the Kira case other than a second note; the message to L being 'reapers'. Unfortunately, something bigger was just around the corner.

"What?! The F.B.I?!"

I listened in as one of the officers gave the report to the Chief, absentmindedly scratching at the bandages on my neck; a habit I'd gained over the course of the week.

"Four in Tokyo, two in Kanagawa, and one in Chiba and Saitama. All died from heart attacks!"

"F.B.I. in Japan?"

"Huh?"

The Chief and the rest of the force were in shock and I silently watched as Watari headed towards the door, being ignored by all the others. _Look out, L. Now that the force knows, you're going to have some giant mutiny on your hands._ I returned my gaze to the computer in front of me and sighed, leaning back in my chair and putting my hands behind my head. _How did Kira get the F.B.I. agent's name and faces though? I doubt he found them all out individually. So he must have gotten the files somehow… Hm, that gives us a hint though. It means Kira is someone who has been followed by them in accordance to L's orders. It also means that, since Kira can control this victims before death, he somehow managed to control one of them to get the files for the others… If he was smart though, he would make sure it couldn't be traced back to him, so he must have had more than one agent get those files._ A slow smirk made its way onto my face and I grinned.

"Interesting. How interesting."

"The F.B.I. surveyed those related to this investigation at L's direction?! Is that true?!"

I listened as the other officers began to murmur and the room became even more chaotic than it already was.

"L… I knew we couldn't trust him."

"Kira's killed F.B.I. along with criminals? Meaning that he'll kill anyone trying to find him!"

"Anyone pursuing him will be killed, even if they're not a criminal… He really is a homicidal maniac, that Kira."

"Right! That's not something a human being would do!"

"Those guys who quit before were right! I can't take this anymore!"

I almost laughed as the men began becoming more and more freaked out at the situation, but I kept it to myself. _They're so predictable! I knew this was going to happen the moment Kira had access to police files… Ah, people can be so_ simple _sometimes._ The grin fell from my face as I remembered Yamatoke. _And so stupid as well._


	6. Chapter 6

" _L, do you know, reapers only eat apples?"_

I frowned as I read through the message again and again. _What is he doing? Is he just toying with L? Teasing him? Or is it something more… Does he see himself as a death god? That would make sense, but I feel like there's something more._

"You okay, Andy?"

I blinked and turned away from my computer monitor to stare at Matsuda.

"You've been staring at the same message for over an hour."

"Oh. Sorry. Repetition helps me figure things out sometimes when I don't have my own little sound proof room."

"Huh?"

I waved my hand. "Don't worry about it Matsuda. Besides, it looks like Chief is finally going to finally take some action."

Chief Yagami was looking tiredly over the group of officers and he leaned forward on his desk with a serious face, but I could see the worry behind it as well.

"We may be killed by Kira. The fact that members of the F.B.I. were killed means that he will murder anyone who opposes him, in addition to criminals. Think of yourself, think of your family, and think of your friends. Those who wish to resign may do so now. No one who leaves will receive a demotion. I've already left your reassignments up to the vice-director… But to whomever is willing to sacrifice everything I've mentioned to fight Kira, be here at five o'clock when I return from my meeting."

He got up and packed up his things, leaving for said meeting which, judging by my clock, would be just over an hour long. Not long after he left the room people either walked up and left immediately, or they sat there and steamed about their decision. As interesting as it was to watch, I grew bored and stood up.

"Huh? What are you doing, Andy?" Matsuda asked, seeing me pack up my own things.

I smiled at him. "Don't worry Matsuda. I don't quit that easily."

I gave him a wave and left the room, happy just to be out of that tense atmosphere. I really needed something relaxing, so I decided to head over to my favorite ramen place and have a nice big bowl of udon with some relaxing tea. I had time anyway. Might as well enjoy it.

* * *

Matsuda was nervous. He kept glancing at his watch every few seconds awaiting Andy's return. _She said she'd be back and I know she wouldn't dream of leaving this case. I've seen how her face lights up at any news of Kira. She would never abandon this case. I just know it._ He thought confidently. Then he looked at his watch as it read 4:59pm. _At least, I hope so._ Just then, the doors opened and Chief Yagami walked in. Being polite, Matsuda stood up and welcomed him back.

"Welcome back, Chief."

He looked around the room. "Only five men… No. Five men who are willing to put their lives on the line to confront evil. Including me, that makes six, but how can we continue the investigation while we're this understaffed?"

Taking a piece out of Andy's book, Matsuda gestured to Watari and his laptop.

"Chief, if you include L and Watari, that makes eight. I'm also sure Andy will be back soon too—"

"Sorry, I'm late!" _Just in time._ Matsuda sighed as Andy huffed her way to her desk. "The elevators were all full so I had to take the stairs."

"Don't you normally take the stairs?" Matsuda asked.

"Well, yeah, but the waiter at my favorite restaurant mixed up my check so I had to—"

"Ahem." The Chief coughed.

Andy stopped and chuckled in embarrassment. "Sorry."

"Anyway, even with nine people, we will still have a hard time continuing our search."

"It is only you, with your strong conviction, that I trust." L said and Andy watched as one of the other officers nudged Aizawa.

"H-Hold on a second. L says that he trusts us, but we don't trust him."

The computer was silent. _Ridiculous people._ Andy thought. _They should be happy L is even working with us to begin with._

"L, we are determined to catch Kira even if it costs us our lives. We should all understand what it means to put that on the line."

"But just order us around without showing your face."

"We will pursue Kira, but not with your assistance. And we're not the only ones. Many people doubt you or even oppose you."

"Definitely! Twelve members of the F.B.I. are dead because of you. You can't argue the circumstances."

The Chief spoke up then, giving Andy a look. "There are some criminal psychologists who are saying that 'L is Kira'. They claim that L has multiple personalities."

All eyes went to Andy and she waved her hand. "Hey. Don't look at me. I never said that. The most I've said was that they are a bit similar in some circumstances."

Chief continued. "The one who ordered the F.B.I. to move was L—"

"For good reason." Andy muttered a bit loudly.

The Chief ignore her. "And the F.B.I. agents who came to Japan are all dead. L would have known who they were."

Andy rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to say something more, but a glare from the Chief kept her quiet. The other officers though, stood up.

"And that's not all! He may have staged everything up till now by himself! The fact that he's been able to solve any case without revealing himself adds weight to that theory!"

" _Che_. They're called conspiracy theories for a reason." Andy muttered again, but the Chief was convinced.

"L… If you're willing to join forces with us and help us catch Kira, come to headquarters and work with us in person."

"Yeah! If you showed your face and worked alongside us, it'd be easier to work with and trust you!"

Andy sighed loudly and eyes turned towards her again. "What would him coming to headquarters do other than signal to Kira that he's L? As long as Kira doesn't know who L is, we still have a chance of beating him. If L shows his face, it's the same as him losing to Kira. Those F.B.I. agents died because they got too close to whoever Kira was, thinking he was innocent, and Kira's got police connections too! So why should L trust us? If anything, we should be glad he's even bothering to ask us for help. He could have just ignored this whole case if he wanted to, you know. The other top detectives did. Whether he shows his face or not, I'd still be willing to catch Kira alongside him."

The room went quiet and the Chief looked down in contemplation of Andy's words, but L spoke up at this time.

"Earlier I said 'I only trust you people'. Watari."

"Yes."

Watari rotated the computer so that the people in the room could see what was written on the screen.

" _What happens from now on must be kept between the nine of us."_

"W-What's that?"

"What happens from now on…?"

" _Very soon I'm thinking of meeting you seven, whom I trust. None of you will mention a word of our meeting or the things mentioned in it. This includes, of course, your family, friends, and the rest of the police. Leave and consider whether or not you can promise me the above and put your faith in me. I'll set up the meeting when those who have decided they can trust and work with me return to this room."_

They all left the room, Andy giving the computer one last glance before following the others outside. Since most of the officers in this little squad didn't really enjoy her company, she stood off to the side to listen in.

"I'd rather forget partnering up with L and just continue the investigation independently. Given the way he works, we may end up meeting a double instead of the true L."

"A double, eh? It's possible."

Matsuda stepped forward. "I-I believe in L and I believe we need his help for this case. Just like Andy said."

"And be used and killed like the F.B.I.? If he's closed so many tough cases on his own up until now, then why would he reveal himself to all of us just to get our cooperation?"

The Chief, having not said a word until now, realized something.

"L has said since the start that he needed our assistance for this case. Couldn't you think of it this way? L was waiting for it to become like this!"

"T-That's what Andy was saying…" Matsuda said and all eyes turned towards the yawning criminal psychologist.

"Hm?" She asked.

"You knew about L's plan?"

"Oh that? Yeah. I knew about it since we discovered the information leak. Or more like, since L and I discovered the leak. You guys didn't figure it out until a bit later."

"What?!"

She nodded and lifted a hand to scratch at the bandages on her neck once more.

"Well, yeah. It was obvious to me. I study people for a living; criminal or otherwise. Humans are selfish and only care about their own safety and the safety of people important to them. I'm pretty sure that if you guys were in his position that you would investigate the police as well. With an information leak as well as all those stupid conspiracy theories about L, it was pretty obvious that most of the police force wasn't going to like him. It _would_ be easier to see just how many would actually stick around and are able to deal with his… eccentric nature."

There was yet another silence, the wisdom behind Andy's words hitting home in everyone but one.

"In any case," He said. "If we're going to work with L then I'm gone. But don't worry. I'm not going to follow you guys or try to figure out L's true identity."

The other two officers who were questioning L though, stood their ground.

"I'll try to trust L and work with him."

"Me too."

"Hm." Andy said. "Be careful. Sometimes just 'trying' isn't enough."

She walked away and Matsuda followed after her with a big grin on his face, hoping to have impressed her with how he stood up for her. The Chief too, had a small smile on his face. _She certainly knows how to get into people's heads, doesn't she?_

They returned to the room and stood at the door so L could see how many had returned. Then, more words began to be typed onto the screen.

" _Right now I'm in a room at the Teito hotel."_

The group was in shock, aside from the Chief and Andy who had both expected something like this.

" _I'll be moving from hotel to hotel every few days. From now on, the police building is only the headquarters in name. Instead, the true headquarters will be my hotel room._

 _Now, I'll have to take precautions so Kira doesn't know my face, so we won't all be together. However, it is a compromise I will make now that I have your trust and cooperation. If you're willing to trust and work with me, split into two groups._

 _Get my room number from Watari and come here before midnight tonight. Meaning before 2004. I'll be waiting."_


	7. Chapter 7

It was later on that night when the Chief, Matsuda, and I finally arrived at the hotel. I had made sure to call Raye up and tell him I wasn't going to be home until late, and to not worry about me. He was a bit upset about it, but agreed as long as I got a ride from someone this time instead of walking and being attacked again.

When we finally reached the correct door, the Chief knocked and a monotone voice responded as the door slowly opened.

"I've been expecting you. Please come in… I am L."

The shock was apparent on the Chief and the others' faces but, if anything, I was intrigued. The man before us was only a few years older than Matsuda and I perhaps, wearing a white long sleeved shirt and a pair of baggy jeans. He had his hands shoved deep into his pockets and was currently using his foot to scratch his other leg, keeping his back slightly hunched over. His expression matched the voice as well, since it was completely void of emotion even in his dark grey eyes. _He's very… comfortable, I suppose. That word suits him well with his stance and clothing. If anything, he's definitely different._ I cocked my head slightly to the side as I stared at him and looked him over, the others beginning to introduce themselves.

"I am Yagami, the Chief of police."

"I'm Matsuda."

"Aizawa."

"Usata."

"Siza"

L gave them a blank expression and then turned to me.

"And you?"

I blinked, quickly shoving all thoughts to the side.

"Hm? Oh, you mean my name? I assume you already have it, so I don't think I need to tell you twice."

I swear I saw a small twitch of his lips, but I could have been mistaken. Just then though, he lifted up his hand and made the shape of a gun with his fingers.

"Bang."

The officers were a bit confused, and I'd have to say I was as well, but L soon explained himself.

"If I was Kira, you'd be dead already, Mr. Yagami."

Suddenly, it all clicked into place. _That's right. We all knew that criminal psychologists have thought L and Kira were the same, so he was just playing off that idea. Basically saying that, 'if we were the same, you would've been dead'. Very smart. He's supporting the fact that he is the real L, proving that he and Kira are not the same, and trying to teach us all at the same time._

"As you must know, Kira must know the name and face of his victim to kill him. Logically speaking, it is impossible to kill someone only by knowing their name and face, but that's just what Kira's doing. We can only conclude that Kira uses a supernatural killing method. We are the only ones left pursuing Kira. So please, do not give away your names so recklessly. You must be more cautious. Although, you did well, Miss Sanders. I compliment you in that."

I gave him a small nod, as the others began talking.

"He needs to know a name? Is that true? I've heard that he only needs to know the face."

I snapped back into reality at Matsuda's statement. "No. He's right. Any criminals whose names were wrong or hidden survived mass killings. I figured it out a while back and informed headquarters."

"Oh. Okay, Andy… but, uh, isn't judging based on that… isn't it too…"

I shrugged. "Believe what you want, Matsuda, but if all he needed was a face, then there'd be a _lot_ more dead people."

He reluctantly nodded and L invited us inside.

"Let's get right down to business. Come. Turn off your cell phones and laptop computers and put them on this table."

I did as was asked, but the others still had some doubts.

"Does L suspect that we will broadcast the conversation with cell phones?"

"Just do it."

"It's not like this is the first time he hasn't trusted us." Matsuda sighed. "I wonder if he ever will."

I rolled my eyes. "You know, he might actually trust us if we took our time to stop doubting his every move. For all you know, he just doesn't want people interrupting our little meeting."

"You are correct once again, Miss Sanders. I dislike it when conversations are interrupted by the ringing of phones. Also, do not write down anything you hear. Just commit it to memory. What's more, don't call me L. Please call me Ryuzaki. Safety first."

I looked back at the others and shrugged, considering myself lucky that I had just guess why L was doing these things, and had been right. I went ahead and took my seat, directly across from L. He watched me just as I watched him in return, silently taking notes on simple things he did and how he did it. _I wonder why he sits like that. As a comfort perhaps? Ah, there's that word again. 'Comfort'._ Spotting the drinks on the table, I pointed to it.

"Tea or coffee?"

He seemed a bit surprised at the question, but answered nonetheless.

"Coffee."

My lips twitched towards a frown, but I kept it as subtle as I could as I added dozens of sugar cubes to it. He glanced at me in silent question, but made no move to ask when Matsuda broke the silence.

"I just had an idea. If Kira needs the names and faces of his victim to be able to kill them, all we have to do is stop all the news channels from broadcasting information about criminals."

I opened my mouth to object, but closed it as L had also opened his mouth. _I keep speaking for him it seems, so I better let him talk for now._

"If you do that, Kira will kill innocent people instead."

"Innocent people?"

"Why would he do that?"

I took a large gulp of my—mostly sugar—coffee to keep from sighing at their naive thoughts.

"Because Kira is an immature loser. Yes… Since I am also an immature loser, I know exactly how he thinks."

I smirked as I set down my glass, happy that my earlier findings had been proven correct thus far.

"Is there something amusing, Miss Sanders?"

I knew I probably couldn't lie to him, so I just smiled and stared right back.

"Yes, actually. You have just proven to me that I was right about both you, and Kira."

He raised a brow. "Is that so? Explain."

"Well, whenever I get cases, I always keep a file about the people involved. In this case, I have one on both you and Kira. It's kind of like a… challenge for myself to see what I can figure out about your personality and I found out not too long ago that you and Kira have a lot in common."

"What? Are you saying they're the same people?!" Aizawa stated in shock.

I shook my hand. "No, no, no. Not even. I simply said that they are similar as far as personality wise. Like when L challenged Kira on national television. Kira just straight up killed Lind L. Taylor without a second thought, completely stopping his pattern of killing criminals. Then once L said that Kira was in the Kanto region of Japan, the killing became more… what's the word… _concentrated_. Then, when I told you guys about my findings as far as the pictures of the criminals doing odd things, I told L about the message and he was more than determined to find it. You were practically spelling out for me that you were upset I found it before you and you were going to find it as well, weren't you _Ryuzaki_?"

He brought a thumb up to his lips, a smile beginning to form on his face.

"You are far more intellectual than I thought you were, Miss Sanders. Psychology is certainly your calling. What do you suppose he'd do if you stopped all broadcasting of criminal information?"

I thought about it for a second. "Well, if I was Kira, I'd threaten to start killing suspects of minor crimes, or even innocent people. Then I'd probably make the other citizens believe that the police are to blame for keeping me from 'judging' the true criminals."

The officers stared at me in complete shock, while L seemed to get more excited; if you could call it that.

"Precisely. Which means, that the most important thing to do now would be to make sure the media doesn't show anything about us here. Still, I think the media can be of use to us. As luck would have it, many countries including the United States have agreed to provide any scientific and intelligence support they can for this case. So, what if we do this… announce something like 'The United States government is furious about the murder of FBI agents. Kira has also enraged all the leaders of the world. The United Nations has sent 1,500 investigators to assist in the capture of Kira.' With that, Kira's opponent will no longer be just the FBI. He will consider anyone he sees on the street as a potential enemy. This will cause plenty of mental stress and discomfort."

The group immediately began to erupt in cheers of praise and such.

"A-Awesome!"

"The eight man team suddenly becomes 1,500 people. Yet, unlike the agents, most of those investigators don't exist!"

"Ryuzaki, I'll bring this up to my superiors immediately."

"I wonder, what will Kira do to counter this?"

"Even if he wants to retaliate…"

I stayed quiet as they went on for a little bit. I personally didn't think that this would work. It, to me, sounded so farfetched that even _I_ wouldn't believe it.

"Is there something wrong, Miss Sanders? You haven't said anything."

I flinched and scratched the bandages on my neck. I didn't want to burst anyone's bubble, especially since they were so happy with this plan of L's.

"Andy?" Matsuda said, putting a hand on my shoulder.

With a sigh, I reluctantly looked up from the table top.

"I don't think it will work."

"What?!"

"What do you mean 'it won't work'?! _L's_ the one who came up with this plan! You think you can do better?!"

My neck stung from the force that I was applying to it now, as Aizawa shouted at me. _He's wrong. Just because he's L doesn't make him better than everyone else. He can still die like the rest of us. I won't start discriminating now._

"No. I can't do better. I never said I could." Aizawa stopped and I hurriedly went on before I could be interrupted again. "I was simply saying that I don't think the plan will work as well as you think it will."

Aizawa opened his mouth with an angry look, but L held out a hand to stop him.

"Go on."

"Kira. He's smart. _I_ don't even believe that lying about some mysterious 1,500 agents would be true. If Kira is as smart as we think he is, he won't fall for it either. If anything, he'd probably laugh at it, knowing that it was a hoax."

"Why you—" Aizawa started, but I turned a glare at him, surprising him as L spoke.

"No. I believe she is correct. There is a very low possibility that Kira will fall for his, but there is still a chance, so we will go through with it in the hopes that Kira will make a mistake."

We all nodded and I lowered my hand from my neck, ignoring the sting that was still there. The others grew quiet, but Matsuda squeezed my shoulder in comfort and gave me a smile of reassurance. I smiled a bit back and lifted my head; trying to be more confident that I felt.

"Let me share a few personal insights on the case." L suddenly said, bringing all attention to him. "Firstly, Kira acts alone. We can clearly see this from earlier reports."

"Why do you think that? What are you basing this off of?" Aizawa asked, but the Chief halted him once again.

"Hold on Aizawa. Let Ryuzaki finish first. Save the questions for later."

"Ah… okay."

L continued as though nothing happened. "Kira needs to know the face and name of his victim, and he can control the time of death and the actions of the victim to some extent."

He reached over to the table and picked up a marker, removing the cap with a serious look.

"Remember everything I have said so far and continue listening." He began to write on the table, writing down a single date. "December 14, twelve FBI agents entered Japan. December 19," He wrote that date a distance away from the first. "Kira is clearly using the criminals in the prison to test out his control over the victims' actions before their death."

L drew an arrow between the two, darkening it as he emphasized his point. "In other words, Kira noticed the FBI agents some time in these five days. In order to eliminate the agents whose identities were unknown to him, Kira needed to test how well he is able to control the victims' actions."

He then went and wrote down the final date along with 'FBI 12' underneath it.

"December 27th, using the results of the experiments, Kira successfully gathered the names and pictures of the agents. Then he sent the files to all the agents before killing them. This is so that we won't find out which agent Kira acquired the information from. This also proves that Kira had contact with at least one of the agents. The bodies of the twelve agents were found throughout the city."

L drew a circle between the dates 12/27 and 12/19, circling a small number 23.

"Between the 19th and the 27th, there were 23 other killings. Most of the victims were only suspected of a crime but had some criminal record. These are starkly different from Kira's regular victims. Kira killed those he wouldn't otherwise kill to eliminate the threat of the FBI agents. He killed 23 people, but most of them served as cover-ups. Only a few of them had any purpose."

I frowned at that thought and clenched my fists into the fabric of my pants.

"Between his experiments and the killing of the agents, Kira waited eight days. This is probably to let the agents investigate more suspects so he wouldn't stand out. In any case, Kira is among the people investigated during this time."

Picking up a rather large stack of papers, L hardly paid any attention to the rest of us, almost as though he was just restating the facts to himself.

"Kira couldn't have known the name and faces of the agents before he could distribute the documents. I know the order in which the twelve agents got the documents. These documents are supposed to be classified but…"

L stopped and glanced up, finally noticing everyone was practically ignoring him now that they had the documents. Everyone, that is, but me. I had every being of my attention focused on L up until he stopped. I had been hanging on every word and thinking to myself about what I would have been doing if I were Kira. What anyone would have been doing those days. What days those were and where a normal person would be. _Normal? Who am I to define what normal is or isn't? For all I know, Kira_ is _normal. Was normal. God… what_ is _normal now?_


	8. Chapter 8

"Amazing! With these we can start immediately!"

"First we find the common points between those 23 victims and the twelve agents."

"We can look for clues in two teams. One for the FBI agents and one for the 23 deaths."

I sighed quietly. _They don't understand. It's not going to be this easy. If it was this simple, L wouldn't have been brought in and Kira would have been caught already._ I took a sip of my sugar coffee and grimaced at the texture. _What I wouldn't do for a plain old cup of tea._ I heard the clatter of something being dropped onto the table and glanced at L as the marker rolled on the flat surface.

"Any questions?"

I almost laughed when he realized that no one was listening to him, but the Chief decided to humor him.

"Ryuzaki, I have a question… Sanders mentioned before, but is showing yourself in front of us a failure for you?"

"Yes. This meeting and the death of the twelve agents are all… completely my fault. However…"

I noticed his grip on his knees tighten and my eyes narrowed. _What is that? A sign of fear? Confidence? Anger? He certainly is a hard one to read._

"I will win in the end. This is the first time I've risked my life to catch a criminal. I want to let everyone here, who is also risking his… or her… life, know that justice will prevail!"

A goofy grin spread across his face, but an unsettling feeling grew in the pit of my stomach. _Justice. Just a word. A word that brings hope and confidence. Useless._

"That's right!"

"Justice will prevail!"

"Let's get him!"

"Yeah! Let's go, L—I mean, Ryuzaki!"

The Chief and I stayed quiet, although for two completely separate reasons, when L ruined the joy they had.

"Now, I need to speak with each of you for a final check to make sure that Kira is not one of us."

The whole groups' mouths dropped open in shock, but I remained neutral. I knew that we didn't have his full trust and it _was_ entirely possible that Kira snuck in among us, but I had my doubts.

"Ryuzaki is right. Kira was getting information directly from the police. He may still be here."

"Yeah. You'd see L's face by being in the group."

I felt stares on my back and spotted Aizawa giving me a look of suspicion. _Figures. There would be someone here who still despises me._ It was then that L got up and began calling us into the other room one by one. He started with the Chief and I was left alone with the other group of men, all of whom were in some state of nervousness. Matsuda was fidgeting and there was a bead of sweat on Mogi's forehead. Ukita had his hands clenching his knees and Aizawa… well, Aizawa was glaring at me. I ignored him and got up, going over to the window to overlook the city.

"You think you're better than us, don't you?"

I blinked a few times before turning around to face Aizawa, his eyes full of malice.

"I have never once thought that I was better than anyone else at anything."

"Yeah right. Then why are you acting like it?! You even went and disapproved of L's plan!"

I shook my head, feeling a tiny bit upset that Aizawa felt this way about me.

"I'm sorry if it seems like I'm acting like it, but I assure you I'm not doing it on purpose. That, and I know that there's always someone out there who can do better than me. So, I always try my best to get up to a higher level." I scratched my neck nervously. "Sorry again. I'm not trying to make enemies. I never am… but I can't seem to get enough of them apparently."

I chuckled a bit and Aizawa had obviously calmed down, giving me a confused look. Rubbing the back of his head, he dropped himself back down on the couch.

"Well, uh… I guess I can understand that. Sorry for yelling and stuff."

I gave him a small smile and waved my hand. "It's okay. I've had my fair share of shouting matches. My views on things just seem to start arguments with people."

"R-Right."

The Chief came out and Aizawa was called in, leaving the rest of us to wait until our turn. Mogi was next, followed by Ukita and I had somehow managed to find the kitchen. With a huge grin, I went ahead and made myself some tea instead of drinking that stupid coffee sugar mix. I added a bit of honey and put some extra honey in another cup for L, since he had just let Matsuda out and had yet to get any more coffee since he'd gone in earlier.

"Andy, it's your turn."

"Okay."

I walked into the other room and set the tea down in front of the chair where L was sitting hunched over. He raised a brow at the cup, before lifting his head and staring at me as I took a sip of my own tea.

"You found my kitchen."

I nodded. "You bet. I can't stand coffee, so I was searching for it as you questioned the others. Then I figured you'd might want some as well since you haven't left this room since you started interrogating us."

"I see." He said, bringing a thumb to his lips and staring back down at the cup. I rolled my eyes.

"I didn't poison it or anything you know."

He glanced up giving me an odd look, so I grabbed his cup and drank some of the tea myself.

"There. See? No poison, nothing."

He gave a small smile and took a sip, looking surprised when he did. "It's not Japanese."

I shook my head. "Nope. I stick to the English teas. I have relatives over there that send me tea leaves whenever they get a chance."

H nodded and picked up a file, that even I knew was mine. He held it up with his index finger and thumb, curiously.

"It says here that you were adopted."

I nodded. "Yup. It's actually the reason why I'm so free about giving out my name for the most part, since it's not _really_ my name. It's just the name my step parents gave me."

"It also says that you were fired from your last job in New York and a few others previously. Could you explain why?"

"Sure. I was fired from my last job because, although I helped the police catch many criminals, I also helped a good number of them get lower sentences. That, of course, ruined the police station's reputation and I was fired. The previous jobs were pretty much the same thing. As I just explained to Aizawa outside, my point of view on certain things upsets people. I often got into arguments with coworkers and occasionally things got physical so it was more often than not that I got fired. I've since learned to keep my temper in order to keep my job."

I chuckled a bit and he nodded, same blank expression on his face as he went on.

"I have also read that another quit along with you and that you have been living with him… a Raye Davis?"

"Yup. He and I are sharing an apartment. Ah, but he's gay so you don't have to worry about anything like that."

I waved my hand nonchalantly as he flipped through my file with a frown.

"There is nothing here about you before you were instated in the orphanage and adopted. Why is that?"

"That might be partially because I don't remember anything up until I was discovered at the orphanage at the age of twelve."

His eyes widened slightly. "Memory loss?"

"I suppose. They took me to a psychiatrist at one point and he said that it is most likely suppressed. I was apparently found in some pretty bad shape."

"Yes. I have your medical records from then as well. It almost sounds as though you were tortured before you were dropped off there."

"That's what I thought as well, but I haven't had any memories return so I couldn't really tell you."

He nodded again and this time, set the file down and just stared at me with his hands placed on his knees. The two of us sat there in complete silence for a moment having a staring contest of sorts; neither one of us wanting to be the first to back down. Finally, I blinked and the spell was broken, giving L a chance to speak once more.

"You are a very interesting person, Miss Sanders."

I flinched. "Sanders. Just Sanders, Ryuzaki. Either that or Andy. Whichever one works for you, but don't put _Miss_. It's too formal and I already feel like we've known each other for a while now."

"In any case, Sanders, you have certainly peaked my interest. Your opinions during the investigation so far have been intriguing and I am curious as to what you think about Kira."

"What I think? Well…" I thought for a second, trying to find a way to put my thoughts into words. "I think he's definitely got a messed up sense of justice, but then again, so do most people. He's smart too and… I think he didn't start out this way. I think whatever this power is, it corrupted him. It took his desire to make the world a better place and twisted it around into this." I held my arms out and then leaned back into the couch, crossing my legs and staring up at the ceiling. "I don't like what he's doing. A lot of the criminals I've meet with and helped had a reason behind what they were doing. I don't believe that they were just born bad or just suddenly got up one day and said, 'Hey, I feel like robbing a bank!'… and I don't feel that anyone should try to judge them without knowing the other side of the story."

I frowned, but it slowly disappeared and I sighed instead, dragging a hand down my face.

"Sorry. I went off on a monologue."

He sipped at his tea. "It's quite alright. If anything, you just gave me more of an insight as to your personality."

"Why thanks." I rolled my eyes and lifted my head off the back of the couch with a wince. Placing a hand on my neck, I followed L as he stood up and walked towards the door.

"If you want, I will have Watari look at that later. You seemed to have torn your stitches."

"Thanks. It's probably from scratching at it. It's a bad habit now."

I wasn't sure if he heard me or not, since he just walked out of the room, but it wasn't important. What was important was catching Kira and ending this whole disaster, but I swear I heard him mutter something just before he walked out of earshot. _It sounded a lot like he said, "3%"._


	9. Chapter 9

"I apologize for hammering you with questions. Kira isn't here."

The group let out a collective sigh, but I knew that this didn't mean that L trusted us any more than he did when we all first met.

"How do you know if one of us isn't Kira, Ryuzaki?"

He smirked. "I've got a plan. It's a test that none of you are aware of."

I smirked slightly too, just as L's phone went off. The looks on everyone's faces were priceless, all of them probably wondering why L told us to turn off our phones when he himself was answering his own. I leaned towards Matsuda and whispered to him.

"He's L. Whatever calls he's getting is probably more important than whatever calls we were going to receive."

Matsuda made a quiet 'oh' and we listened in as L picked up.

"Gotcha, we're pretty much finished up here. Use your own key to come in." L hung up and then turned to us. "Watari is coming."

I stood up, surprising the others, and pointed to L's cup that was now empty.

"You want some more? I was going to get a refill myself and bring Watari a cup since he seemed to like it last time."

He nodded and I grabbed his cup, going into the kitchen and refilling it, adding just as much honey in his as I did before, and walking out as Watari greeted everyone. They were all in shock at the elder gentleman, but I wasn't really surprised. He seemed grandfatherly to me ever since he asked for the recipe for my tea.

"Good work everyone. You must be thinking 'This old geezer is Watari?'. Ryuzaki has told you everything, correct? Ryuzaki must really trust you all if he let you see my face."

"Y-Yes." Matsuda said while Aizawa chuckled nervously.

"Nice to see you again, Miss Sanders." He said with a bow as I sat down L's tea and handed him his own.

"You too, Watari. Hope you enjoy it."

"I always do." He set it down though, and brought over his suitcase to L. "Ryuzaki, I brought the things you ordered."

"Hand them out."

Watari nodded and did as he was asked, opening the suitcase to show a row of badges.

"This is everyone's new badge."

"New?!"

"Well, yeah." I said. "We can't exactly be showing our actual badges in public. Wouldn't it be best to have a fake one should we have to show it? Otherwise, if we encounter Kira, we'll die."

They seemed to understand that and went quiet again, L giving me a look.

"A bit blunt, but Sanders is correct. Kira must know the name and face of the victim in order to kill them. So we must use these badges."

"O-Okay."

"So when you absolutely must say who you are, use this fake badge, but not in the police station or we might get in trouble."

I almost chuckled at that, feeling like we were a group of kids being told not to tell our parents a secret or something, but I didn't and replied just like the others.

"Rodger."

"Also…" Watari said, opening another case. "You must all wear this belt as well."

"Belt?"

Now, even I was confused at that one.

"There's a hidden transmitter hidden inside the buckle. This way, Ryuzaki will always know your location. Also, if you press the buckle twice—" He showed us. "—my cell phone will ring. After we get a call, we'll contact you via an untraceable number. You will be working at the station during office hours, and then check in when you reach your hotel rooms. You can also use this to contact us in case of an emergency."

"Cool!" Matsuda said as he put on his belt. "It feels like we're some special group formed to catch Kira!"

I smirked. "Oh! Like the Power Rangers?"

We both laughed, but the Chief cut in on our fun. "Sanders! Matsuda! This isn't a game, be serious!"

"Hey, everyone needs a good laugh every now and then, Chief. Relieves the stress. I would know, I'm a psychologist." I nodded and Matsuda nearly busted up laughing again.

The poor Chief sighed. "What am I going to do with you two?"

That had the two of us smiling at each other like idiots and high fiving. Then, L spoke up again.

"Oh, it wouldn't look right if the main building is empty. Have somebody stay there so at least it looks occupied."

"Understood. Aizawa—"

I cut him off and raised my hand. "Actually Chief, can I go? Since we're going to be here for most of the time anyway, I want to find someplace better to keep my files than simply locked up at the office."

"Go ahead. Try not to take long. We could certainly use your help."

I nodded and hurried out the door, grabbing my phone, but leaving my laptop for now. As I hurried out the front door, I scowled when I realized that it was snowing. _What a day to not bring an umbrella._ I popped up my collar to my trench coat and hurried along down the street, my breath fogging in front of me. I dodged around a couple people, not really taking anything in since my mind was elsewhere. It didn't take long though before I reached the front desk and I went to head up the stairs, only for the two desk clerks to call out to me.

"Ah! Wait, Sanders!"

I stopped and turned. "Yeah? I'm only going to be here for a little bit then I have to go. What is it?"

"Well, there was a woman here earlier asking about the Kira investigation. She said she needed to talk to someone from the team, but we didn't know how to get a hold of anyone."

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "We need any and all information we can get. Couldn't you have taken a message?"

"No. She wouldn't let us. She said she'd only tell it to someone in person from the force."

"Great. Was she willing to wait? Or did she just leave?"

They glanced at each other and shook their heads.

"She left."

"Yeah. The Chief's son escorted her out."

"I suppose it must not have been that important then." I muttered. "Anything else?"

"Oh yes!" One of the men reached down and handed me a bag. "This is for the Chief. His son dropped it off."

I took it and nodded. "I'll be sure to get it to him. Now if you'll excuse me."

I hurried up the stairs with the bag in hand, pulling out my phone and dialing a familiar number. Holding it to my ear with my shoulder, I listened as it rang a few times and someone finally picked up as I knelt at my desk and began grabbing my files and putting them in a box that I kept on hand.

" _Mm… hello_?"

"Hey, Raye. Sorry to wake you, but I just wanted to let you know that I _probably_ won't be needing you to pick me up anymore."

" _Oh…_ " I heard a yawn on the other end and rolled my eyes. " _Okay then. Just… make sure you get a ride… No more muggings, ginger snap_."

"Stop calling me that, Raye. Oh, and you most likely won't be able to get a hold of me for a while too. The case is getting pretty intense. Call me back when you're a bit more sober, okay?"

I heard a groan, which I took as an 'okay' and hung up on him. As I packed the files away, I counted off in my head. _5... 4... 3... 2... and…_ My phone suddenly began ringing and I smirked, picking it up and saying a quick 'hello' before holding it away from my ear.

" _What do you mean you don't need me to pick you up anymore?! I thought I was your bestie_!"

Bringing the phone back to my ear, I smiled. "I never said you weren't. It's just that I won't be in the station very much anymore. I can't tell you any details, but think of it as a promotion. That, and I'll either be staying up all night anyway, or I will get a ride from Matsuda. Either way though, I don't really need you picking me up."

" _I knew it! You don't love me anymore! I should have never brought you here! Look how we're falling apart_!"

"You're being over dramatic, Raye—"

" _Over dramatic?! Next you'll be saying that I work at a hair salon_!"

I sweat dropped. "Uh, Raye? You _do_ work at a hair salon."

" _See?! There you go! You're already being mean to me_!"

"Raye, I'm not being mean to you." I said, closing up my box and taking the elevator down.

" _You are so! You're ditching me for cute little Matsuda_!"

I winced. _Sorry Matsuda, looks like my gay friend_ does _have his sights on you._ "I'm not ditching you for Matsuda. I don't even like him like that. We're just friends."

" _That's what they all say and then they go off and get married and have little cute Matsuda children_!"

I sighed, walking out of the station and heading down the street again.

"I already said, I don't like Matsuda like that. Why are you arguing about this anyway? Weren't we just talking about you not having to pick me up? How did we get to talking about my feelings towards Matsuda?"

" _We were fighting and_ —" He suddenly gasped on the other line. " _Oh my God. We were fighting! This is our first fight! Oh, Andy! What are we going to do?! We're already in the fighting stage! It won't be long now before it gets physical a-and then we'll start the law suits and_ —"

"Raye!" He finally quieted down and I got into the elevator to get to L's room. "I need to hang up now because I can't be let into the room with my phone on. So listen to me carefully. I. _Will not._ Need you to pick me up anymore. Okay? It has nothing to do with Matsuda or us moving to this country. It only has to do with the case I'm working on. Okay? So calm down."

I heard quiet sniffles on the other line and could practically see his face in my mind as he pulled out his fake tears and— _No! Don't think of it! That's just what he wants and then he'll pounce! Don't fall for his crying eyes!_

" _B-But_ —"

"No 'buts' Raye. If you want, I'll pick up your favorite ice cream the next time I head home. Then we can have a movie marathon with movies of _your choosing_. We'll pig out and enjoy ourselves, but right now I've gotta work. So I'll see you when I see you, okay?"

" _Okay_." He pouted on the other end and I hung up on him, walking into the hotel room with a sigh, pulling a hand through my hair which caused the others to give me odd looks. Narrowing my eyes at them, I gave them all a pointed look.

"Now, I don't want to hear _squat_ about your family worrying, because that's _nothing_ compared to an over dramatic, flamboyant, drunk, gay friend whining about our friendship being destroyed just because he can't pick me up from work anymore."

They all sweat dropped and nodded, a bit frightened I guess, while I took a seat and set the box of files next to me; handing the chief his bag of clothes. Lifting my gaze to catch Matsuda's eyes, I pointed at him.

"And _you_ need to stop being… yourself or you're gonna have to end up dealing with him too. He already calls you his _cute little Matsuda_." I muttered the last part, and reached down to pick up some of the documents that L had given us. _Today was going to suck._


	10. Chapter 10

The next day, Ukita was in charge of staying at the office and I felt a bit bad for him, so I made sure to buy him something to snack on while he was there. Once I did that though, I was back at the hotel with the others, looking over files and video tapes of the twelve agents in Japan. It wasn't super interesting or anything, but it kept me occupied and more than entertained with trying to figure them out. _Although, I should be more on the lookout for Kira than trying to guess the personalities of the dead FBI agents._

"Sanders, please pay attention."

"Hm? Oh right. Sorry."

I was also a bit dazed I suppose since I didn't have much sleep these past couple of days. I kept having flashbacks of what happened to Yamatoke and other friends of mine dying. One person in particular had me worried since I knew that he was a very… _popular_ criminal in the system, who was working on getting out as early as possible in order to see his dying mother. He sent letters to me constantly to tell me how he was doing, but we both knew that his mother didn't have much time left.

"Sanders!"

I jumped at the Chief's shout and stared back at him nervously, my right hand having gone straight to my knife that I had tucked away. I certainly was a bit more jumpy since prison, not to mention with Yamatoke as well.

I clenched my fist and moved it away from my pocket, putting on a nervous smile. "Hehe, sorry."

L was giving me a look, but he soon turned away and back to his TV screens.

"As I was saying," Aizawa said. "These tapes are the recordings of every security camera relevant to the deaths of the FBI agents on December 27th. Their footage captured the heart attacks of Knick Staek in the Ginza department store, Raye Penber in Yamanotesen, and Nicola Nasberg on Ikefukuro no Hanka street. These people have been recorded ever since they left their hotels."

I suddenly had a thought. "Did anyone else die in those areas?"

Aizawa raised a brow. "Uh, I don't know. I haven't checked for that at all."

I shook my head. "You might want to. That could provide us with some information as to if Kira was in that area or not."

Aizawa scrunched up his brows. "Why would he be there? Kira doesn't need to be somewhere to kill someone. We've already proven that."

"Simple. Because the FBI were all killed, that means that Kira was being followed by one of them and found out. Knowing that he needed to get rid of them, it's pretty likely that he forced one of them to show him their badge to get their name. Then, since he can control their actions before they died, he made that agent ask for the files. I'm not completely sure how he managed to do it, but it still means that Kira made contact. In order to make contact, Kira had to be there in person to get his name and face, right? And let's say that Kira needed to speak with the agent—and I'm not saying he did or not—but if he did, then the agent may doubt who he is. Therefore, Kira would have to prove himself and kill someone. It's just a theory though, so it may or may not have happened, but it's worth looking into, right?"

Aizawa opened his mouth, but L answered instead.

"It is a possible theory. Please look into it, Aizawa." He nodded reluctantly and went to work as L and I went to look at the screens again. "Show me all the footage of Raye Penber when he entered the gates up until his death."

The Chief did as he was asked and I watched as he went on to explain what occurred.

"He entered through the Shinjaku Nishikuchi gates at 3:11pm. Just like his train card recorded. We can tell that it is Penber even though the image is fuzzy. He then boarded the Yamanotesen line at 3:13pm. We cannot see or determine who he was following at this point. Even if we enhanced the images, we still wouldn't know. And then there's his death…"

"It's possible he wasn't following anyone as well, right?" I asked.

L nodded. "Yet another possibility. There's something very strange about this though. He boarded at 3:13pm and died at 4:42pm just after stepping off the train. A round trip on the Yamanotesen line would take about half an hour… he had no extra tickets and his card has no record of him leaving the train during this time. Penber received all the names, pictures, and other information regarding his fellow agents at 3:21, which is eight minutes after he boarded the train. After Penber received the information, he remained on the train for one and a half hours…"

L went quiet and I pondered what he said, watching the screen. _Something's definitely wrong. Why would he stay on the train for so long? Not only that, but who could he possibly be following? If he was following Kira, then what reason would Kira have for taking that train? Or… was Kira leading him there on purpose. That would mean that he had the whole thing planned._ I scrunched up my brows in thought when I noticed something in the video.

"Hold on." I pointed at the screen. "Pause the video." The Chief did as I asked and I reached glanced at L. "Do you see this too?"

L stared at the screen in concentration for a moment before his eyes widened.

"Yes. The envelope is gone."

"Huh?" Aizawa said.

"At the gates—" I said, but was cut off by L as he finished my sentence.

"And before entering the train, he had an envelope with him."

"Envelope?" Aizawa leaned forward and finally found it, pointing at the screen. "Oh! You're right! He's holding it here too. That's amazing, Ryuzaki! You noticed the smallest details!"

I rolled my eyes at Aizawa. _I'm the one that spotted it, but whatever. I don't need to start fighting with Aizawa again. I'll let you have this one, L._

"There weren't any envelopes among his articles."

"Then he either left it on the train or gave it to someone. Kira perhaps?" I thought out loud.

"Could the envelope have had the agents' information?"

"Kira stole the envelope while they were on the train, and killed Penber once he got off."

I shook my head. "There's no way. Penber didn't receive the information until after he boarded the train. That, and the information was _sent_ , as in digitally sent. There would be no paper to speak of."

"Oh, that's right."

L turned to Aizawa. "Please bring me all the footage of the Yamanotesen security camera starting from the 27th."

"Rodger."

"Also, on the footage of Penber's death—"

I cut L off this time to finish what he was saying. "It's almost like he's trying to look back into the train before he died. Like I said before, I think Kira was there with Penber."

"It would be pretty interesting if he was looking at Kira himself. Sanders, what are your thoughts as to _why_ Kira would show himself to Penber, if he did?"

"Hold on, give me a sec."

I got up and began pacing the room, before I went over to my box of files and pulled out Kira's. _I have to think like him. What would I do if I was Kira?_ Why _would I do that? Everything has to be completely thought out. Can't leave any holes._ I flipped through page after page of what I had on Kira and his personality, slowly coming to a stop in my pacing and changing my stance.

I stood confidently now. Tall, straight, powerful. I calmed my breathing and turned each page carefully. I wasn't being myself anymore. I couldn't. I had to be Kira. Had to think like him, act like him, _be_ Kira. I took a deep breath and let it out, thinking. _There was someone following me. I could tell, so I knew I needed to get rid of him. How would I do it, though? I didn't know who he is nor his name, so I'd have to find out. Plan something. Get him alone and threaten him maybe? No. Too straight forward. Too obvious. Too… boring. Something more then. He can't be with the police, because they wouldn't investigate themselves. Who would L send to investigate the police? No, I'm thinking too hard. Once I get his name it will be easy. I need to get him in a position to show me his ID. Come up with a plan._ I nodded to myself, ignorant of the odd looks the task force were giving me.

 _And then what? I'll have the name and the face, but to do it right away and just kill him would pin suspicion on me. I'll wait a bit before I get rid of him. Give him a chance to investigate others. Plus, there's probably more. I'll control him to get the names and faces of the others and then kill him. That way the FBI won't continue to help L, at least until they come up with some better plan and who knows how long that will take._ I smirked to myself, turning back to the first page and placing the file back with the others.

 _I've done all those tests on the criminals and some failed but the others showed me how much I can use this power. I_ could _use that, but there's no fun in that and having someone else do the job could possibly lead back to me. I'd better just get the information myself. Threaten something close to him. Family maybe. Then, he'll get the names and faces and kill them off. And lastly, he'll die. Might as well show him my face. He'll be dead anyway and this way, I could show him just how close he was to catching me. Catching Kira. No loose ends and I get to have some good entertainment while I'm at it. What will you do next, L?_

"Andy?"

I sucked in a breath and held a hand to my head, sliding down to the carpeted floor. Matsuda's voice had snapped me out of my trance-like state, and I was in a slight state of shock.

"Sanders? Is everything alright?"

I gave a short chuckle at L's voice. "Heh, I've been better. I haven't done that in a long time and forgot how much of a toll it took on me."

"Done what?"

I lowered my hand with a small smile. "My specialty of course. It's not often, but sometimes I can get so into imagining a criminal's thoughts or actions that I almost… become that person, I suppose. Like I said, I haven't done it in a while and it's a pain in the butt coming back to being myself sometimes. You had good timing, Matsuda."

"Uh, thanks…"

"I did find something out for you though, Ryuzaki. I think, as bad as it sounds, that Kira did this for enjoyment."

"You're kidding." The Chief said in disbelief.

I shook my head. "Sorry, but I'm not. I've actually caught a lot of criminals who have gotten so power hungry that they started doing things just for the fun of it. They began to enjoy taunting the police and sending them in for a loop. Kira's doing the same thing, only he's trying to… show off, I guess, to L. L is someone who has confidently told Kira that he will catch him. What better way to make things interesting for Kira than to push L and taunt him? This—" I gestured to the screens. "—is like telling L, 'You thought you could follow me and look what happened. This is your fault, but you were close. Just not close enough.' To Kira,—and possibly to you too, L— this is just a huge game of chess. Kira was just saying that it's your move now, since he's made his."

"Disgusting." Aizawa spat, but I just shrugged.

"Hey, it's life. Humanity is disgusting sometimes. We just have to learn to live with it."

"That is correct, in some cases, Sanders." L said. "But for now, we'll have to do a bit more than just 'deal with it' as you put it. The only thing we can do is catch Kira and put him to justice."

I sighed, and leaned my head against the wall. _That word is going to haunt me for life. "Justice"_


	11. Chapter 11

"Now then, Aizawa will investigate the eleven other agents and the other victims. Yagami, Matsuda, and Sanders will investigate Penber's death."

"Right."

"Yes."

I shrugged. "Whatever."

The chief gave me a look. "Show some respect, Sanders."

I sighed. "Yes sir."

It wasn't that I didn't respect L, it was just that I had no reason to treat him any different than I would anyone else _._ There was a good number of people I met in my life that appreciated this, but also a good number that disliked my lack of respect, such as the Chief. I couldn't please both, so I normally just showed respect when I was told to.

Just then, I heard a ringing and my attention was brought to Watari as he pulled out his cell phone. _If it's Watari's phone, then that means it's most likely from Ukita. Something happened down at the station._

"Ryuzaki. Ukita from headquarters has received an interesting phone call."

"Give Ukita the number to line five and have the person contact me directly." L quickly turned to Matsuda. "Matsuda, you can turn on your cell. No, I mean turn it on now."

"Oh, right."

Matsuda did as he was told and the phone surprised him when it went off. Before he could even answer it though, L stole it from him and answered in an unusual voice.

"This is Suzuki, information specialist of the Kira investigation." There was silence for a minute before L exclaimed, "Penber's fiancée?!"

I hurried to Watari's side, seeing how I wasn't to use my laptop inside the building, and watched as he pulled up the picture of a Miss Naomi Misora. My eyes widened.

"I know her."

"Huh?" All eyes turned to me, although L continued to focus on his conversation on the phone.

"And how might you know Miss Misora?" Watari asked in his stead.

I began tapping my temple with the index finger of my right hand. "I know I've seen her face before. I distinctly remember it." Finally, I had it. "That's it!" I snapped my fingers and pointed at her picture on the screen. "I saw her outside of the station the other day! When I went to go get my files from the office!"

L's voice coming from my left made me jump slightly. "Describe her. What was she wearing? Who was she with?"

I frowned and tried to remember. "I-I can't remember much. I believe she was wearing a black leather jacket with jeans and knee high black boots. Some pretty heavy duty ones too, but then again, it was snowing."

"Focus, Sanders. Who was she with?"

"Um…" I closed my eyes and tried to remember back to that day. The only reason I remembered Naomi was because I had taken an interest in her coat. _Now that I think about it, I don't even remember why. Huh._ _Ah! Focus! Think. Who was she with?_ "It was a guy, I think. I only saw the back of his head. When I passed them though, he was writing something down. I was just assuming that it was a boyfriend and his girl, so I didn't really pay attention."

L's face grew sour, but Matsuda was in shock.

"Wow! How did you remember all those details? I would've totally not even noticed them at all!"

I opened my mouth to respond, but L cut me off almost angrily. "Yes. Good job, but you missed the important details, Sanders."

I felt anger rising in me, but I calmed down and nodded solemnly. "You're right. Sorry."

He ignored me and looked at the Chief. "Mr. Yagami, is it still possible to locate cell phones that are turned off?"

"Of course." the Chief said unsurely, not sure where L was going with this.

L went silent suddenly and handed the phone back to Matsuda. He began talking—to himself I'm sure—but I ignored him for the most part. _I don't know why he got all frustrated with me. Oh wait. I do. He knows that if I remembered who she was with, then we might have been able to catch Kira. Well, not everyone is as great as him. So sorry to disappoint._ I sighed. _No. I shouldn't get angry with him. He's got a point anyway. I should've been paying more attention to my surroundings. It's my fault that we don't have Kira in our hands right now._

My thoughts took a downwards spiral as I began to blame myself for not being able to get details on Kira. As my mini depression grew, I unconsciously began scratching at my neck once more and staring towards the window as I practically molded with the couch I was sitting on. Suddenly, without warning, someone grabbed my hand in a firm, but gentle grip. My eyes widened and I suddenly swung my foot out from under me, aiming an upward kick towards the person's jaw. I was lucky he dodged it, because the person I had nearly ended up kicking turned out to be L.

L, having already released my wrist to dodge the kick was standing there in half shock, half curiosity as I tried to stall my rapidly beating heart rate. I felt like a frightened animal and I wanted the feeling to stop, but it was taking far longer than I thought. _Deep breaths. Come on, Andy. You can do it. Remember what Raye said. Deep breaths and remember something else other than the prison. Remember our night at the gay bar a few weeks ago. Laughing at him dancing on the tables and getting drunk out of his mind. There. Just relax._

My mind and body slowly began to come out of the shock and I felt extremely tired all of a sudden. I didn't want to move or even open my eyes now that they were closed, but his voice told me otherwise.

"Sanders. Open your eyes. You cannot keep them closed."

 _Damn his voice._

"Sanders. You had a panic attack. You need to open your eyes so Watari can look at you."

 _It's your fault it happened in the first place. Maybe if you'd just go away and let me sleep I'd feel better._

"Andy."

The sound of my first name had me reluctantly opening my eyes and glaring at the detective. He nodded and moved so Watari could look me over. The kind older gentleman helped me sit up and handed me a glass of water which I was told to drink slowly. I sighed when I finished and he had checked my pulse. When he turned back to L, I was not happy with what he had decided.

"I believe Miss Sanders should get some rest, Ryuzaki. A panic attack such as this can be very exhausting."

"No." I said. "I'm not leaving."

"Watari is right. You should go home, Sanders."

 _Back to last name terms again I see._ I shook my head, regretting it the moment my vision swam for a moment. I brought a hand to my head and frowned. "No. I wanted to be a part of this case. I'm not going to miss out on a possibly important piece of information just because I had a stupid panic attack."

This time, the Chief stood up. "Go home, Sanders. You're obviously not in any condition to—"

I stood up as well, not happy about the situation I was forced into because L decided to catch me off guard. "I'm not going home, Chief! I want to catch him just as much as the rest of you and I would've been fine if Ryuzaki hadn't gone and done that!"

"Sanders! An order is an order and if you will not listen, then I will have no choice but to fire you!"

Both our tempers were heading out of control, but I could care less. I was in no mood to be told that I was going to be fired over a mistake someone else made.

"You're going to fire me because someone else screwed up?!"

"That someone else is L!"

"So what?! He's the world's greatest detective! Who cares?! He bleeds just like everyone else and I'm pretty sure he can die just like everyone else too!"

"Dammit Sanders!"

"Dammit my ass, Chief! Being the world's greatest anything doesn't make you immortal nor does it make it an excuse for doing something wrong!"

Both our faces were livid and, at this point, I didn't care if I was fired. I was stressed and had to deal with insult after insult from everyone on the police force. Not to mention that I couldn't even close my eyes without seeing Yamatoke's dead body or the crying faces of his wife and kids.

Without warning, my strength suddenly left me and I fell forward, Matsuda having caught me before I could hit the ground.

"A-Andy, maybe they're right. You should go before—"

I shook him off, and got up on my own. "No, Matsuda. I'm done. If I'm going to be fired then to hell with it."

I turned and grabbed my box of files, before walking towards the door, standing there in the doorway while everyone else stood in shock still.

"I'm not good enough if I can't even remember the details of some person I passed on the street. Goodbye, Matsuda. Goodbye, L."

With that, I closed the door and left the building, heading back to my apartment in an even worse mood than I was when I was fired from my job in New York. Looking up at the blinding blue sky, I felt tears fall down my cheeks and smiled.

"Well, damn. What am I going to do now?"


	12. Chapter 12

Matsuda and the others stared at the door that Andy had just slammed shut. L was mostly indifferent to the situation, him chewing on his thumb the only sign that he cared at all. Matsuda though, was more upset about it. _I-I don't understand. Why would she just run out like that?_ The Chief sighed.

"I'm sorry, Ryuzaki. Perhaps Andy just wasn't suited for this case."

"No. If anything, she was more suited for this case than anyone else." L said, surprising the rest of the force. "I believe she will return, but for now, let us continue." The task force nodded. "I want everyone to investigate all the people Penber was following ever since Kira began his experiments on December 19th. The list should be small, however, Kira should be among them. So we can't reveal ourselves by directly questioning those people. Penber was investigating your families. Even though his report said that the families were not suspicious, in every family that Penber investigated, please install hidden cameras and electronic bugs in all of their homes."

"No… No way! You can't do that in Japan!" Matsuda shouted, followed by Aizawa.

"No matter how powerful you are or what your background is, you can't do that! This is a major breach of privacy rights. If our bosses found out we'd all lose our jobs and then the suspects—"

"Do you value your jobs over human lives?"

Stumped by L's comment, they all went silent, but the Chief realized the intensity of the situation and that this could be one of their only chances to catch Kira in action. So he asked, "Who was Penber investigating at the time?"

Searching through Penber's records, Matsuda came across what he was looking for and began to sweat. _T-This can't be right. If it's them, then…_

"Penber was investigating…"

"Sub-chief Kitamura's family, criminal psychologist Andy Sanders, and chief Yagami's family. Then please install cameras and electronic bugs in these three households."

Even more shocked than they were previously, Matsuda and Aizawa tried to help the Chief and Andy out.

"No way! I told you, that's illegal in Japan!"

"If anyone found out, everyone here would be fired!"

Not perturbed in the slightest, L responded, "Then you must install them as discreetly as possible."

"Ryuzaki," The Chief asked. "What is the chance that Kira is actually in one of these families?"

"…10 percent. No, more like 5 percent."

"Only 5 percent?" Matsuda said in surprise.

"Right. Normally I'd want at least a 50 percent chance of me being right before doing something like this."

"And even now, we still don't have a suspect. Even if the odds were one percent, we still have to investigate thoroughly. I'm sure Sanders would think the same." The Chief said, sweat rolling down his brow.

"'Investigating thoroughly' mean installing illegal surveillance equipment? And in Kitamura's, Andy's, and your home, no less."

"Do we have any other choice?" The Chief said, in frustration.

He stared L in the eye and only say his determination. _There's no other way._ The Chief thought.

"I cannot accept that my family is a suspect. Please, install them! Also, make sure every single angle of the house is being monitored! Even the bathroom!"

"Thank you for your cooperation. I was going to do that anyways."

L walked away to go make preparations with Watari while Matsuda and Aizawa tried to figure out what the Chief was thinking by agreeing to this so easily.

"Chief! What are you thinking?!"

"You do know what this means, right?!"

"You have a daughter and a wife!"

Finally, the Chief snapped. "Of course I know! If we are going to find Kira then we are going to have to do everything we can! So shut your mouths!"

The two men realized that they crossed the line and went silent. They could see the stress that this situation was putting on the Chief and Matsuda apologized.

"Sorry."

"Don't worry. It's fine."

As the Chief stood by the curtained windows, L sat perched on his couch and began handing out orders.

"This requires some sacrifices. Well then, the Chief and I will monitor the Yagami home. The rest of you work in shifts. One of you head back to the headquarters and work there while another rechecks the Penber footage. The other two will monitor the Kitamura family."

"What about Andy? She's a woman." Matsuda asked nervously, not wanting anyone to be watching in on Andy's personal life.

"Sanders will be monitored by Watari and I privately. We will be watching these families for seven days. Depending on how things go, we may stop early. When the surveillance is finished, inform the families. Leave no equipment either. Do you all understand?" Everyone nodded, although Matsuda still didn't like the idea of L and Watari watching Andy. "Watari. When can you have the surveillance equipment ready?"

"By tomorrow." He replied. "We can install that as soon as we are positive that nobody is home."

"Also, book two more rooms from a different hotel to serve as monitoring stations. Once we've installed the equipment, we will move to those immediately."

With that, everyone went to work.

* * *

It had been a full day since I left the task force and I still couldn't think properly. After the panic attack, I had managed to make my way back to my apartment and Raye came home to find me passed out on the couch surrounded by empty cartons of ice cream with a movie playing credits on the TV screen. So, yeah. I was in a bit of a depression.

After talking it over with Raye briefly, I realized that I _had_ over reacted, but so had L. So, in a way, we were both at fault and Raye tried to convince me to be the better person in this situation, and go apologize, but I couldn't. My—dare I say it— _pride_ had been hurt and as much as I wanted to go back and help with the investigation, I doubted my own abilities now. Well, there was that and then there was the fact that falling asleep without changing my bandages had caused an infection and I was now bedridden with a fever.

"You really are an idiot. I hope you know that." Raye said, brushing my hair off of my sweaty forehead.

"Shut up." I muttered, glaring at him weakly.

"You know it's true." He said with a small smile. "Just make sure to rest up today. No investigating Kira when you should be sleeping. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just go."

He chuckled and waved as he headed out my bedroom door. "I'll see you after work, bunny! If you need anything just call me, and I'll bring you by some food around lunch time!"

I weakly waved back and sighed as I heard the front door close. " _Che_. Like I _could_ help with the Kira investigation right now. I can't even reach my laptop since he put it in the living room… Jerk."

I glanced at the pills and water Raye had left behind and sat up to drink it. I've been having a hard time sleeping anyway, so Raye knew just what to give me to knock me out. Lying back down in my bed, I groaned at the ache behind my eyes and the itchiness off the bandages around my neck. I reached up to scratch it, but Raye's words came back to me.

" _Don't scratch at it, Andy. That's probably how it got infected in the first place."_

"Ugh." I moaned and stared up at the ceiling in boredom, waiting for the meds to kick in.

"One, one thousand. Two, one thousand. Three, one thousand… Four, one thousand."

I scrunched up my eyes, blinking a few times as the ceiling blurred slightly. _Damn, those pain meds work really fast._ I continued to stare upwards, when the sound of the door opening caught my attention. _What the—There's no way Raye is already back, unless he forgot something. Best not call too much attention to myself though if it isn't him._ I forced myself up off the bed, reaching for my gun, but thinking otherwise. _I'm half drugged, so I probably couldn't shoot for the life of me… But if whoever this is has a gun also, then it's my best option._

I picked up the gun, making sure it was loaded, before stumbling to my bedroom door. Slowly opening it, I glanced down the hall and, seeing no one, walked out; using the wall as support. Breathing heavily, I made my way towards the living room and, upon seeing a figure there, drew my gun.

"Don't move." The figure froze, lifting their hands as they spotted the gun in my possession. "Who are you? What the hell are you doing in my apartment?"

"I'm not here to cause any harm." The familiar voice said, taking a step towards me. "Please put the gun down."

"No." I said defiantly, trying to blink away my blurred vision. "Don't come any closer."

"You should head back to bed." He said as he moved closer.

I fired off a shot near his foot. " _Don't_ test me, sir."

"Please miss. Put the gun down."

 _Miss? Where have I heard that before? And his voice is so familiar but I just can't place it… Damn… It's hot…_ I suddenly felt myself falling, the gun falling out of my hand and landed on the carpeted floor with a dull ' _thud_ '. I waited for my own body to hit the floor, but it never came since I was caught by none other than the intruder. He patted my face, trying to keep my awake.

"Miss! Miss, can you hear me?"

I wearily looked up at him and I swear I saw Watari hovering over me as he placed his cold palm on my forehead.

"W-Watari?"

He didn't answer, but gave a small smile as he lifted me up and brought me into my bedroom, something unexpected from a man his age. He laid me down under the blankets and covered me up, as my vision began to dissolve into black nothingness.

"Get some rest, miss."

He turned to leave, but I somehow managed to reach my hand out and grab the bottom of his shirt.

"W-Watari… Tell him… sorry."

"Of course." He nodded with a small grin and gently placed my hand back under the sheets, shutting the door to both, my bedroom and my consciousness.


	13. Chapter 13

I awoke to the sound of Raye returning later than expected. His feet clambering around the house and the noise of bags fluttering in his wake.

"Raye?" I muttered, my vision spinning slightly as I sat up on my bed.

I swear something happened earlier, but I couldn't remember what. Even as Raye came in with a bashful looking face, I still hadn't figured it out. Frowning, I sighed, putting a hand to my feverish forehead.

"Raye, you're late." I said, and he chuckled nervously.

"Sorry about that, bunny. You see, there was this guy and—"

I waved my hand at him. "Tell me later… What'd you bring me?"

He ruffled through a bag and pulled out a bowl and a spoon, smiling brightly.

"Brought you some miso soup. Thought it might help."

I nodded slowly and took the bowl form him, uncovering the top and soaking my senses in the delicious smell of the soup. As I lifted the spoon to my mouth though, I asked Raye something that seemed to just pop into my head.

"Did you come back here earlier? Like you forgot something?"

"Hm? No. Why?"

I just let out a breath. "Nothing. I just have this vague feeling that someone was here."

His eyes narrowed and he got up, walking out of the room and I could hear him moving around the house. I knew what he was doing. He was checking for intruders since I mentioned that. I sighed and called out to him.

"Raye! It's fine! Whoever it was is gone! Nothing's been taken and I was probably just hallucinating! You know how I get on those sleeping pills!"

He returned to the room and sat back down, glancing over his shoulder at the door.

"You can never be too sure. You're intuition is almost always spot on."

I gave him a small smile. "Yeah, well… It's been proven that I'm not always right."

Raye scoffed. "Please. Don't you go starting that again. I already told you, doubting yourself is only going to make things worse!"

I set my spoon down and sighed, reaching up to scratch my bandages, only for Raye to grab my hand and stop me.

"Sorry." I mumbled. "He just got to me is all."

I lowered my hand and Raye gently took the bowl and spoon away from me. It was still half full, but I wasn't very hungry anymore.

"You shouldn't keep letting what people say get to you like that, Andy. It's hard enough that you have different ideals than others, but taking everything people say about you and bottling those feelings up is only going to cause a break down." He brushed his hand over my face and I glanced at him as he smiled softly. "So just relax and get ready to show that guy who's boss as soon as you're better. Okay? I miss my kick butt Andy."

I smiled back and nodded. "Alright. Once I'm better, but… maybe another day off after that. Just for you and me."

He laughed and ruffled my hair playfully. "Now that's the Andy I know and love."

I laughed as well. "Yeah, yeah. Now go get ready for your date! And don't tell me you don't have one. I've seen that look on your face before."

"You caught me." He said with a wink. "I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning!"

He hurried out my bedroom door and I heard him shuffle about for a good half an hour before he finally left, the front door closing behind him loudly. With a small shake of my head, I relaxed and climbed back under my covers. The only thing that bothered me at the moment was this little nagging in my mind when I saw my Glock sitting on my nightstand table. _That wasn't where I left it._

* * *

My fever hadn't gone down until a few days after that and the whole time, I kept getting this feeling that I was being watched. I briefly discussed it with Raye and he had the same feeling, so we were considering a full on bug search later on this week. Both of us were nervous now and tried to stay out of our apartment as long as possible, and when we were in our place, we kept to very brief conversations. It was very frustrating, but I was beginning to think that it had something to do with me leaving the investigation. So I brought it up to Raye and he agreed. I suppose it was a good thing I was planning on going back, as soon as Raye and I finished our day of fun.

It wasn't really fun though, at least to most people. First off, I had a doctor's appointment and got half the bandages removed from around my neck. I was also given permission to move my head around now. I just needed to be careful and had to continue to change the bandages semi-frequently. Then, after that, we ate out and went to the gym because I had a lot of tension I really needed to let out. Once done with that, we watched a movie, ate dinner, and pigged out on ice cream and soda as Raye talked about his newest boyfriend.

The whole time though, I kept thinking, _I wonder if L is watching this and what he thinks…_ Suddenly, I noticed some words going across the top of our movie program.

"Hm? Hey, Raye, check it out."

Raye came out from the kitchen and leaned over the couch from behind me, his blonde hair tickling the side of my face.

"Looks like some kind of police report or something."

I nodded, eyes scanning the print and reading it out loud. "In an effort to catch Kira, ICPO has ordered 1,500 investigators from around the world to work in Japan."

My brows scrunched as Raye scoffed. "Really? That's a pretty stupid move. Shouldn't they be more secretive about it? This is obviously just a scare tactic, right Andy?"

I nodded, mentally saying 'I told you so' to L. "Of course. It's so obvious that even Kira would figure it out right away. There's no point in exaggerating the number unless they're trying to cover something up. It's completely useless to broadcast something like this… but no one listens to me." I muttered at the end, quiet enough for Raye to miss it as he headed back to the kitchen.

Gathering my dishes, I went to the kitchen as well and dropped them off in the sink. "I'm heading to bed, Raye. I'm exhausted."

He nodded, washing the dishes. "Make sure you take your pain pills, Andy."

I gave a thumbs up and headed to my room, my eyes scanning the halls in a paranoid fashion. With everything that's happened in the jail and outside of the case, my nerves were either on the fritz or stressed out to maximum capacity. Pulling a hand through my hair, I plopped down on my bed rather undignified, after changing and taking my pills, and stared at the ceiling with my hands intertwined behind my head. _Tomorrow's the day. The day to suck up my pride and go apologize to L._

I groaned and rolled over, facing the door. The radio on my nightstand was tempting and I reluctantly turned it on.

" _On air now is Miss Toriko Shinto a victim of the most recent robbery in the Shinto prefecture. Koto Nagata is the main suspect for this and has committed numerous other crimes…"_

The radio went on to continue talking about this Nagata fellow and I sighed even as it went on to a bribery suspect. My pills were kicking in now and I was beginning to feel drowsy again, as the radio continued to play. I didn't feel like shutting it off and instead, fell into a deep slumber; never noticing when Raye came in and shut it off for me, nor when he brushed a kiss across my forehead. _"Night bunny."_

* * *

I stood in front of the hotel doors looking up at the towering structure with a determined look. I had promised Raye I would make up with L today, and had prepared accordingly. I didn't _want_ to give in to L, but I figured that as long as I apologized, he would apologize in turn as well. It didn't matter who gave in first, just as long as we both knew we both got out of hand. Taking a deep breath, I walked into the lobby and took the stairs; my healthy streak having returned.

Stair after stair I began to think about returning to my apartment, but I fought against my negative thoughts and focused more on discovering more about the case, about Kira and L. With that in mind, I soon ended up at the door to his room and knocked. A moment later, Matsuda opened the door looking shocked and a bit more rugged than I remembered. _This case must really be taking a toll on all of them if he's in this kind of shape._

"Andy! You're back!"

I smiled. "Yeah. I suppose I am."

Matsuda let me in with a huge grin. "I knew you would come back Andy, but you really had me worried there! How's your neck healing?"

I brought a hand up to the bandages and grimaced a bit. "It's been better. I actually would've came back sooner had it not gotten infected. I've been in bed with a fever for most of my time away."

"Whoa. Are you sure you're okay?"

I smiled at how worried he was, his concern reminding me of Raye. "I'm okay, Matsuda."

It was then that we walked into where the others were gathered, L sitting crouched in a chair at the head of the table. All eyes turned to me, but I kept my gaze fixated on L as he sipped at his coffee. Walking closer to him as Matsuda took a seat, I stood tall, not willing to degrade myself with a bow when I knew we were both out of line before.

"L, I apologize for acting the way I did the last time I was with you. I should not have acted the way I did and was being childish. I hope you will forgive me and allow me to come back to the team, please."

I bowed my head a bit, waiting for a response. L set down his coffee cup and gazed at me evenly.

"I will… forgive you and you may return to the team. However, I trust that you will try to control yourself next time?"

I grit my teeth, but nodded. "I'll do my best." _So long as you don't provoke me._

I swear I saw him smile a tad before he said, "Very well. In that case, welcome back… and I apologize as well, but I do not think it is me who you should be apologizing to."

I nodded and turned to the Chief, taking a low bow, I apologized sincerely to him, since he was the one who I had taken out most of my anger on that day.

"I'm really sorry, Chief. I shouldn't have argued with you like that and I apologize. I hope this doesn't change anything and I hope you'll forgive me." I straightened up and saw him giving me a small smile.

"I forgive you, Sanders. You were stressed at the time, so I understand, but no more undercover at prisons, understand? I can't keep having one of my best officers trying to kill everyone they come into contact with."

I nervously chuckled. "R-Right. I think I can do that."

"Good." He nodded, then turned to L. "So, the results?"

I wasn't sure what they were talking about, but I sat down in a chair between L and Matsuda. _Maybe they_ have _been doing surveillance. I've seen cops this rugged before, but only when they've been staying up all night to look over things. I wonder what's been going on while I was out._ L gave me a look, but turned back to the others.

"I have repeatedly reviewed the audio and video recordings from the past five days on all three families. My conclusion is, regarding the existence of suspicious activity within those under surveillance, there is no reason to suspect any of them. Remove the cameras and microphones."

The Chief sighed and everyone seemed to be both relieved and disappointed. Looking around, I raised my hand like a grade-schooler asking a question.

"Um, I wasn't here for this, so could I be clued in on what's going on?"

L nodded, picking up a piece of chocolate out of the bowl on the table and plopping it in his mouth. "I'm surprised you have no recollection of it. Although, you were under the influence of drugs."

"What?!" Matsudo shouted and I flinched at his loud voice as L went on.

"As I was saying, we have placed cameras and microphones in the households of you, the Kitamura's, and Chief Yagami's family. I believe that you nearly shot Watari while on your sleeping and pain medication."

I glanced over at the elder gentleman with a shocked expression. "Oh man. Sorry, Watari. I-I didn't mean to."

He smiled. "It's not a problem, Miss Sanders. It's good to know that you are capable of protecting yourself even while highly medicated."

"Uh, thanks. I guess."

Matsuda then took that as his chance to grab a hold of me. "Drugs?!"

I rolled my eyes and pried his hands off me. "Matsuda, I was taking pain pills and sleeping pills because of my infection! Calm down, would you? I wasn't taking actual drugs."

His face flushed a bit and he rubbed the back of his neck with a chuckle. "Hehe, right. Sorry, Andy."

"It's fine, Matsuda… But hey, L?"

"Hm?"

I leaned forward, resting my chin in the palm of my hand. "What if Kira knew about the cameras? Couldn't he have acted differently? Even Raye and I got suspicious and we were actually planning on checking for bugs in our apartment tomorrow. I'm sure even you noticed, but we talked as little as possible inside my place and stayed outside of it for as long as we could. If Kira knew about them, he could simply act innocent and find a way to get the killings done while still looking normal, couldn't he?"

"You are correct."

"Huh?" The task force said, completely blindsided by this.

"Don't get me wrong. I said there was no suspicious activity based only on the tapes. Kira just didn't slip up, or rather, he quietly sent the criminals to their graves. It's as Sanders said. He could have been acting this whole time if he knew about the cameras."

"B-But are you sure Kira is one of these people?" The chief asked.

"Well," L stirred his coffee. "That has about a 5% chance of being true."

I looked at L and then sat back, thinking. _That doesn't sound right. If this is the only lead, then Kira has to be someone from one of these families. It could even be Raye, as unlikely as that sounds. Even so, if it is someone from these families, then the chances are way higher than a measly 5%. What is L trying to pull?_ Glancing around the room as the task force thought or spoke to one another, my eyes landed upon the exhausted face of the Chief. _Oh. That's what he's doing. If the Chief doesn't think it's a super high percentage, then he will be more willing to cooperate and to stay on the task force. L is playing them all for fools… in a way. I suppose it's necessary though, in order to catch Kira._

I scowled, ignoring the rest of the task force for a while. _Then again, how do we catch Kira? If he has some supernatural power, it could be just about anything. He could be wishing for that person to die and we wouldn't know if he was inhuman enough to keep a straight face while doing so. The only way to catch Kira would be to do catch him killing someone and the others won't like that one bit. Either that, or getting him to slip up._ I sighed, sinking into the back of the chair and closing my eyes for a moment.

"You may go home, if you wish, Sanders."

I jumped a bit at L's sudden announcement and opened my eyes to find that everyone had already left except him, Watari, and I. Sitting up, I pulled a hand through my hair and gave L a light hearted glare.

"Don't do that."

"Do what?" He questioned innocently.

"Scare me. It makes me paranoid."

"I see. I'll be sure to remember that."

"You don't need to remember it. Just… don't do that." I grumbled.

He nodded and Watari handed me a cup of tea. I brought it up to my nose and took a deep breath of the intoxicating scent with a thanks. Taking a sip, I set it back down in the saucer and turned my attention back to L.

"Could I watch the surveillance videos of the Chief's household?"

He raised a brow. "Why?"

I shrugged. "Just seems like you must have in interest in one of his family members since you lied to him earlier."

"Lied?"

I nodded. "There's no way the percentage is only 5%. Even I know that. I'm not stupid. I can tell when you're bluffing just to keep someone happy, believe it or not. It's my job to read people, remember?"

He gave me a curious look and stepped onto the table to get closer to me.

"How did you figure this?"

I wanted to scoot back, but there was nowhere to run when his face was right in front of mine. "I-I, uh… just assumed. I know some of your personality from watching and listening, but it just seemed logical that you would try to keep what help you have. And to do that you would have to lie if that's what it takes to keep them from leaving. Especially if you don't have any proof behind your reasoning."

"What makes you think I don't have any proof?"

Swallowing thickly, I went on. "Well, we are dealing with someone who is using supernatural powers, aren't we? You can't really get proof of that unless you catch Kira killing or he slips up. And judging by everyone's reaction when you were talking about the surveillance, they all thought everyone was innocent which means there's no way you have proof."

He didn't move or say anything for a moment before stepping back to his seat and giving me some breathing room. I let out a breath I had been holding and slumped back in my chair.

"You are very intelligent, Sanders."

I gave him a tired look. "If you say so."

"You don't believe you are?" He questioned, raising a brow.

I shook my head. "It's not that, I just try not to take pride in showing off. I've seen it happen to many people, too many times. Pride gets in the way of making rational decisions, so I do my best not to take pride in what I do or can do. It's easier to think that there's always someone in the world who can do better. That way you're always trying to work harder and do better. That's what I think, anyway."

He tilted his head to the side, looking up. "Hm, I haven't thought about it like that."

I chuckled a bit, easing out of my tense posture. "Yeah, most people don't."

"Well then, Watari?" The elder gentleman turned towards L. "Please get the tapes for the Yagami household for Sanders."

He nodded and left to do as L asked, while he turned to me with his thumb posed on his bottom lip.

"It'll be intriguing to see what you make of these tapes. Until then, I will not disclose anything about who I think is a possible suspect. I wish to see if you can figure that out on your own."

I nodded, a grin of excitement overcoming my features. "Can't wait."


	14. Chapter 14

I watched the footage silently, taking notes on occasion as I tried to figure out each person of the Yagami household. The eldest son seemed odd to me, having placed a trap to check if someone had entered his room, but having nothing worth protecting from what I could see. _I suppose he could have a porno stash hidden away somewhere, but that's a bit cliché if you ask me._ He left almost immediately as well, which had me curious. _What could he possibly be doing? It couldn't be a date since all he grabbed was a coat, and since it's not that, why not stop at wherever he's going before he came home?_ I frowned slightly, writing a few things down and fast forwarding to where he returned.

When he pulled out a porno book, I rolled my eyes, making another note. _Boys._ It was then though, that I noticed he wasn't doing anything… well… that a normal teenage boy would do with a porno book. _He's just looking and… that's it. Even now, as he says he was tricked by the cover. That doesn't mean he wouldn't be doing something… dirty… Perhaps Raye would have a better insight on this. I'll have to call him later._ I made a note to do that, and continued watching. I noticed the women of the house returning home, but the wife just began preparing dinner and the younger went upstairs to her room and worked on homework with music playing through a set of headphones. _The wife looks like a decent stay at home mom and the daughter a typical hormonal teenage girl. But there's something about the son that is ringing warning bells._

I went back to watching the son and tilted my head when he hid away his dirty book within the cover of a box set of text books. _That's an odd place. Smart, I'm sure, but you'd think he'd hide them a bit better. Especially with a younger sister who may sneak into his room looking for a text book she might need._ I wrote another note down and watched as the kids were called down for dinner; the TV playing a short about an idol that the daughter was apparently into.

" _More music videos? You should watch the news more, Sayu."_

" _Hisau is the love of my life! Brother, you should find an idol to like too."_

I continued to watch, when L came up beside me, hands stuffed in his pocket.

"This is where we broadcasted the announcement about the ICPO investigators."

I nodded, silently glad that L hadn't come up behind me this time. _Looks like he_ does _listen sometimes._ As the announcement was made, I kept a careful watch on their reactions. Sayu seemed honestly surprised and shocked about the number of investigators, whereas the wife showed a brief flash of concern. _Probably worrying about her kids getting into contact with Kira or her husband, who works with the police._ It was Light's comment though, that had a small frown on my face.

" _What a stupid move. A public announcement like this one is completely useless. If they really wanted to investigate, they'd have to do so secretly. Even FBI agents who went undercover were killed. Publicly announcing that they're sending more agents would merely increase the casualties."_

" _Ah! That's true! Brother is so smart!"_

Light smirked. _"So this news report must be a bluff that the police are trying to scare Kira with, but it's so obvious. Kira is probably laughing at them right now."_

I made another note. _Kira wouldn't be laughing. It's against his character. Kira would be making the connection that this is a bluff, but if he's hiding within society as well as he is, he would keep up his appearance. And if he's being watched and knows it… he'd be showing off…_ I watched as Light grabbed a bag of chips and the comment Sayu made had me writing down another note. Light then verbally announced that he was going to study, making me roll my eyes once more. _Announcing what you're doing? Why don't you just narrate your life? It's just further proof you know there are cameras._ I shook my head, mentally scolding myself for jumping to conclusions and went back to watching.

I nearly face palmed when Light announced something again, and I continued to watch as Light went about studying, occasionally checking the other monitors were the Chief's wife and daughter were, making sure they weren't doing anything suspicious. After a while of watching that, L showed up beside me again, letting me know he was about to mention something of importance.

"This is when we discovered that Kira claimed two more victims on the 9 o'clock news."

"What kind of crimes?" I questioned.

"Bribery and robbery suspect."

I nodded, mentally scanning through what I knew about Kira so far. _Those two aren't very major criminals. Kira normally wouldn't bother with those unless he couldn't kill his normal prey, but the Yagami household has been quiet since dinner was over. Sayu's been studying and sleeping, the wife was cleaning and sleeping, and Light has been studying since 7:30pm. There's no concrete proof that any of them are Kira… But the eldest son… it's like he's too 'by-the-book'._ I went on watching the next group of tapes taking place over the next few days of observation, fast forwarding through the moments no one was home and a few other moments. I also wrote down a few other things as Light began watching the news on TV, but other than that, everything was fairly quiet in the Yagami household.

By the time all the videos were finished, I was physically and mentally exhausted, leaning back in the chair I was in with a long sigh, running a hand down my face. I heard footsteps coming and lowered my hand to see L taking a seat not far from me, thumb brushing his lower lip and eyeing me curiously. _He wants to know what I found… Well, he's going to have to wait._

"Ryuzaki, may I make a quick phone call? It has nothing to do with the case… at least, not entirely."

He tilted his head to the side. "Something I cannot answer?"

I shook my head. "I don't believe so and, uh… it's a rather odd topic."

I scratched the bandages on my neck, before quickly stopping, remembering Raye told me not to.

"Very well. I will allow you to make the phone call, however, Watari must be present to monitor it and make sure you are not leaking information."

I reluctantly nodded. "Alright. Then excuse me."

I headed off after Watari, who led me into another more private room, where I pulled out my phone and dialed Raye's number.

" _Bunny_!" He shouted, causing me to wince and pull the phone away from my ear. " _Why haven't you called?! Where have you been?! Is everything okay?! Did he let you back on the case?!_ "

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down there Raye! I _am_ back on the case and I'm _fine_. I would've been home by now, but I had case work to catch up on since I've been gone." I said, giving the grinning Watari and exasperated look.

" _Well that's great, Bunny_!"

"Stop calling me that!" I scolded, frowning. "Now look, Raye. I have a question to ask you. And don't ask me why, because it has to do with a case."

" _Alright. Shoot_."

"D-Did you, uh… Did you ever own porno books when you were younger? Like teen age?" I felt my cheeks flush a bit, giving Watari a glance, but he just kept grinning.

" _Andy! What a dirty question_!"

"Raye! J-Just answer the question!" I said loudly, getting more embarrassed by the second.

" _Well of course I did, Andy. I got the feeling there's something else you wanted to know though_?"

"Uh, did you ever… you know… do other things… I mean, was it typical to do… um…"

I heard laughter over the phone and face palmed as I even heard Watari chuckling a little bit.

" _Ahaha! Oh God, Andy! You're so funny! You want to know if I did dirty things while reading porno?! Ahaha_!"

"Raye! J-J-Just answer the question! It's seriously important for this case!"

" _O-Okay. Haha, hold on. Give me a minute_ …"

I groaned, hearing him trying to keep from laughing in the background, before he finally responded.

" _Y-Yeah, it was typical to do those sorts of t-things back in high school_."

I could still hear him struggling to keep from laughing and I rubbed my temples with my free hand, thanking him and hanging up, hearing him start laughing again just before I hung up. I let out a sigh and dropped the hand, looking over at Watari desperately.

"Watari, please, please, _please_ don't tell Ryuzaki what I just asked. I do believe I've embarrassed myself enough already."

He gave a short chuckle. "Of course, Miss Sanders."

We both walked out once I had calmed down the red tint to my face and I completely avoided eye contact with L for fear of being embarrassed once more. _Man, just thinking about it makes me shiver._ A chill ran up my back as I sat back down and grabbed my notes.

"S-So, uh, there was something I wanted to ask you too, Ryuzaki."

"Is everything alright, Sanders? You appear tense."

I looked up at him, unconsciously and promptly turned a bright shade of red as I struggled to keep that question out of my head and get back on task.

"I-It's nothing… Sorry." I cleared my throat, ignoring the odd look L was giving me and flipped through my notes to find the question I wanted to ask him. "Would you happen to know if Light normally got chips before he ate?"

L raised a brow. "I am… unsure."

I nodded. "That's fine. It was just something I found odd."

"Do you have a suspect?"

I frowned in concentration. "Not necessarily. If you want to go by solid evidence, no. I don't."

"And if I go by pure speculation?"

I nodded. "Then I do. I suspect Light Yagami."

L pressed his thumb to his teeth without the slightest change in demeanor, but I could tell he was interested just by his thumb chewing.

"Elaborate."

"Alright…" I flipped through my notes to the beginning, scanning over what I had wrote and finding the best way to word things and explaining all the things I had found odd to L.

I went over the door trap, Light leaving right after he got home, the dirty books, the chips, everything. It was my questioning Light's comment about the ICPO message though, that caught L's attention.

"It was odd?"

I nodded. "Yeah. He sat there and claimed that Kira would be laughing at this obvious bluff, but from what I understand about Kira thus far, he would do the exact opposite. He's blending in with society extremely well thus far, so he wouldn't want to slip up over something so easy. And if he knew there were cameras watching him, he _still_ wouldn't act obviously. If anything, Kira would go out of his way to show off to whoever was watching him."

"Which is what Light did."

I yawned, nodding again. "Yup. I thought that was the oddest thing from what I saw."

"And what would your percentage of him being Kira be?" L asked, leaning forward slightly in his seat.

"Hm, I would have to say at least 75%"

He raised a brow. "Seems a little extreme."

I shook my head, eyes half-lidded as the lack of sleep began to catch up to me. "The FBI agents died and we already know that Kira was being followed by Raye Penber. So anyone he was watching is already 30-50% Kira. Then, add up the fact that Kira is in a certain age range with a certain amount of intelligence, and that narrows it down further to about 60%. Add in the way everyone reacted to the ICPO message, and Light is the only real suspect left at 75%. But… I suppose one would need physical proof in order to convict someone so there's hardly anything we can do. We'd have to catch him in the act or sacrifice someone, which no one on the task force would agree to."

"That is correct, and I am significantly impressed with your deduction, Sanders. There is one thing I would like to point out though."

"Hm." I grumbled, feeling myself drifting off.

"You forgot to include yourself in this analysis."

"Why would I do that?" I muttered out, yawning again and sinking further into the couch.

"Because… you are my number two suspect."

"Number two… Mm, I wanna be… number one…"

I fell asleep there on the chair and I swear I heard the clinking of metal, but I probably imagined it.

* * *

"How did I end up in this mess again? _Please,_ remind me." I growled, not pleased with the fact that I was now handcuffed to the chair I had fallen asleep in last night in L's presence.

I drummed my fingers along my jaw line, glaring at L who just sipped his tea calmly while the rest of the task force stared between us cautiously.

"Were you not listening, Sanders, when I explained this last night?"

I groaned, throwing my hands up in the air. "For the billionth time, I have no _idea_ what you told me last night! I was half asleep after our conversation about the case!"

"Oh… Well, that's too bad."

"Agh!" I half-shouted in frustration, shaking my hands in my hair angrily.

Seems I wasn't the only one curious though, since Matsuda finally spoke up.

"U-Um, Ryuzaki? Why exactly _is_ Andy handcuffed to the chair?"

L set his cup down on the table before him and stared at the group blankly. "Because she is my second Kira suspect."

" _What?!_ " Matsuda and the Chief shouted, while I just groaned.

"Great."

"But you said you specifically wanted Sanders here to help with the case!" The Chief said, obviously confused and in a panic.

"T-That's right! Andy can't be Kira!" Matsudo also said, coming to my defense.

"On the contrary. Sanders has almost as much of a chance being Kira as Yagami's son, Light."

"I-Impossible!" Matsuda shouted, waving a hand in my direction. "Andy's the nicest person I've ever known! She _helps_ criminals! Why would she kill them?!"

L took a bite of the cake he held in front of him, calmly. "That is true. However, there is more evidence that would prove she is a suspect as opposed to an innocent."

"Like what?!"

L set aside his cake, sighing slightly, and placed his now empty hands on his knees, which were curled up to his chest. "She appears to know the most about Kira, understanding his mindset and even, on occasions, acting like him."

"B-But that's her job!"

L nodded. "Yes, however, she is extremely good at it which can cause room for concern. There's also the fact that she has a high intellect and access to police files, just as we knew Kira did. As well as the fact she worked on a side case during the Kira investigation."

"Under the circumstances, I allowed her to." The Chief said, also defending me. "She has proven to be of great help and there was nothing more she could do at the time."

"Chief! Why are you defending her?!" Aizawa said, apparently not as trusting of me as I thought. "You can't tell me you didn't see how excited she was during Ryuzaki's first confrontation with Kira! She even left the room upset when Ryuzaki bested Kira!"

"Aizawa!" He scolded, looking more than frustrated.

"Hm, there is that, which I did not know of." L commented, giving me a glace. "However, there is more evidence as well. She was the first to find the secret message to me hidden in the three notes, was followed by Raye Penber, knew about the cameras, listened to news reports about the victims during the investigation, had a similar response as Light about the broadcast, carries a weapon on her at all times, and has threatened me at least once."

"What?!"

"I do believe she said 'he can die just like everyone else'. And then there's the incriminating fact that she is the only person we know of who was there to kill Takeshi Yamatoke when he mugged her."

I tensed, flashbacks of that man dying before me still haunting me every waking moment, but said nothing. L seemed to notice this, as did Matsuda.

"Andy! Why aren't you saying anything?!"

L gave me a curious look as well. "Yes, Sanders. You have yet to say anything in your defense. Is there anything I have said that you want to comment on?"

I looked around, seeing Matsuda's desperate look and the Chief's worried one, but I couldn't do it.

"No. Everything you've said is true."

"Andy!"

I gave Matsuda a small smile. "It's alright, Matsuda. It's best to cover every possibility, right? As long as the percentage isn't zero, we should look into it."

L nodded. "Sanders is correct. Although the possibility of both her and Light Yagami being Kira is low, it's best to cover every possible angle."

Matsuda reluctantly nodded, head bowed and I felt a bit bad for him, but everything L said was true and I couldn't deny that, even if it did make me a Kira suspect. _What's more, without knowing exactly how Kira kills people, it's possible that someone could be doing it subconsciously. Seems like things are only going to get more complicated from here on out._


End file.
